Web posted on: Wednesday, July 28, 1999 1:20:19 PM EDT

(CNN) -- Francis Bacon insisted critics and admirers of his work stay mum on his exhibits while he was alive, according to a new book about the artist. But more than seven years after his death in 1992 at age 82, the book "Francis Bacon: A Retrospective" provides an opportunity to analyze his work and life.

Published to accompany a 60-painting retrospective touring the United States this year, the book is an excellent quick reference on the artist, whom the book's jacket labels as "perhaps the most eminent British painter of the twentieth century."

Three art historians offer views on Bacon, including Dennis Farr, the director emeritus of the Courtauld Institute of Art's galleries in London and curator of the exhibition.

In an essay, Farr notes that while the artist, a descendant of the statesman Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), didn't want commentary in exhibition catalogs, Bacon himself was willing to talk freely, if not always candidly, about his work.

For example, Farr said that while Bacon always insisted he never made preparatory sketches for his pictures, historians now know that was not true.

The book also contains insights into Bacon's personal life, which Farr said the artist censored until his later years.

The book also has essays by art historian Sally Yard and by Bacon's friend and biographer, Michael Peppiatt.

The bulk of the book is a color catalog of Bacon's work. It starts with the 1933 painting "Crucifixion" and progresses chronologically to a foldout of the second version of "Triptych 1944," painted in 1988, just four years before the artist's death at age 82.

For readers interested in tying events in Bacon's life to his work, the book has a chronology.

The retrospective exhibition of Bacon's work will be at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco until August 2. It opens at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas on August 20 and closes October 15.