David Sylvester was born in 1924 in London and lived mainly there. His published books include Henry Moore (1968), Interviews with Francis Bacon (1975), Rene Magritte (1992), the five-volume catalogue raisonne of Magritte (1992-1-4-5), Looking at Giacometti (1994, also available in Pimlico) and Looking Back at Francis Bacon (2000). From 1951 he curated or co-curated numerous major exhibitions at museums in London, Paris, Venice, New York and Washington, including Dada and Surrealism Reviewed and one-man shows of Picasso, Laurens, Soutine, Miro, Magritte, Giacometti, de Kooning and Francis Bacon. His films include Matisse and his Model (1968) and Magritte: the False Mirror (1969). He was awarded C.B.E. in 1983, and was a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an Honourary Fellow of the Royal Academy and a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art. In 1993 he became the first critic ever to receive a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. He died in June 2001.
