Leon kossoff bio
Leon Kossoff
British artist Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) is one of the most acclaimed figurative painters of the twentieth century. A born and bred Londoner, Kossoff found inspiration in his close environment; from within his studio walls to the city’s streets. Often building layer on layer of paint over long periods of time, Kossoff created expressive, tactile surfaces. Through a use of heavy impasto, his canvases took on a three-dimensional, almost sculptural quality. From early in his career, Kossoff’s focus on the city's streets led him to capture the post-war bomb-damaged neighbourhoods or historic landmarks like Christ Church Spitalfields and Arnold Circus, which held a deep connection to his family's history as part of the Jewish diaspora that settled in the area during the early 20th century. In the intimacy of his studio, he would create psychologically penetrating portraits and figure studies, often of family members and friends. Kossoff was considered a member of the ‘School of London’ group of artists, which included such artists as Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Although their approaches differed, the group adopted a radical commitment to figurative painting at a time when conceptualism and minimalism were the dominant forces in the art world. Kossoff was also a skilled and dedicated printmaker throughout his lifetime.
Kossoff began his artistic training at St. Martin’s School of Art in 1943 but left in 1945 to complete three years of military service. He returned to St. Martin’s in 1949 and followed David Bomberg’s classes at Borough Polytechnic from 1950 to 1952. He then completed his training at the Royal College of Art between 1953 and 1956. Kossoff represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and was the subject of a retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1996. His work is held in major public and private collections around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Metropolita
Summary of Leon Kossoff
At a time when Conceptualism and Minimalism were dominating the contemporary art scene, Kossoff emerged from within a group of radical figurative painters who became known as "The School of London". Their approaches varied significantly, with Kossoff's work standing out for its heavy impasto style (referred to by one critic as being like "icing on a cake") form which his images appear to physically materialize. Kossoff's paintings ask the viewer to consider simultaneously the image, and the texture and application, of the paint itself. Kossoff was a proud Londoner (he was in fact the only member of the group to be born and bred in London) who's cityscapes focused predominantly on the blitzed post-war city and its dusty construction sites. He complemented his cityscapes with a series of portraits, usually of family and close friends, which Kossoff executed with the expressive and tactile force that was to become his trademark.
Accomplishments
- Emerging in the mid-1970s, Kossoff, with the likes of Frank Auerbach, R. B. Kitaj, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, represented a new generation of British art school painters. "The School of London" amounted to an afront to the prevailing avant-gardes and revitalized international interest in figurative painting. Indeed, Kossoff is cited as one of the chief influences on the revival of figurative art as seen in the rise of the late '70s/early '80s movements of Neo-Expressionism and New Spirit Painting.
- Kossoff is recognized for the almost primeval ferocity with which he applied his paint. His style featured heavily reworked paintings and powerful drawings that caught the downcast mood of post-war London. But later works see the artist abandoning his preference for grays and browns. Moving into the 1990s, his outlook on life was no less subjective, but perhaps more spiritual as he turned towards a lighter color palette. His celebrated series of Cherry Tree paintings were a tribute to the changi
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Leon Kossoff 1926-2019
Artist Leon Kossoff was born to Ukrainian-Jewish refugee parents in Islington, London, England on 10 December 1926 and raised in the East End, where his parents ran a bakery. During the Second World War he was evacuated to King’s Lynn in Norfolk, where his host family encouraged his passion for drawing, and he subsequently attended life classes at Toynbee Hall in the East End, and Saturday classes at St Martin’s School of Art. Following National Service with the Royal Fusiliers Jewish Brigade (1945–48), he studied at St Martin’s School of Art (1949–53) and the Royal College of Art (1953-56), alongside Frank Auerbach, with whom he also attended David Bomberg’s evening classes at the Borough Polytechnic (1950-52), which proved a formative experience.
After participating in the Tercentenary Exhibition of Contemporary Anglo-Jewish Artists at Ben Uri Gallery in 1956, he had five solo shows at Helen Lessore’s Beaux Art Gallery (1957-64), followed by more than 30 further solo exhibitions hosted by institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1981), the Venice Biennale (1995), Tate (1996), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2000) and the National Gallery (2007). He also participated in numerous group exhibitions including in 1976, The Human Clay, an exhibition selected by R. B. Kitaj, which brought together a loose group of figurative artists, whom he referred to as representing a 'School of London', a label subsequently much debated.
London was the focus of much of Kossoff's work, from early postwar bombed cityscapes to a series based on Christ Church, Spitalfields and scenes of intense human activity including the underground, train stations, parks and swimming pools in Dalston, Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, Kilburn, Willesden and the Embankment. He also drew daily from life, often in charcoal. His final exhibition 'Leon Kossoff: A London Life', was held at Piano Nobile, London in 2019. Leon British figurative painter (1926–2019) Leon Kossoff Islington, London, England London, England Leon Kossoff (10 December 1926 – 4 July 2019) was a British figurative painter known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England. Kossoff was born in Islington, London, and spent most of his early life living there with his Russian Jewish parents. In 1938, he attended the Hackney Downs School in London. In 1939, he was evacuated with the school to King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he lived with Mr and Mrs R.C. Bishop, who encouraged his interest in art. During this time, Kossoff made his first paintings. When he returned to London in 1943, Kossoff went to Saint Martin's School of Art, and studied commercial art. He also attended life drawing classes in the evenings at Toynbee Hall. He spent three years in military service with the Royal Fusiliers, attached to the 2nd Battalion Jewish Brigade, and served in Italy, Holland, Belgium and Germany. After his military service, he returned to the Saint Martin's School of Art in 1949, and at Borough Polytechnic, took special classes under David Bomberg from 1950 to 1952. He was also influenced by another one of his teacher's students, Frank Auerbach. Both young artists dealt with similar emotions and subject matter in their work, and employed heavy impasto in their paintings. Kossoff chose his subject matter mostly from the area of London where he was born. From 1950 to 1953, Kossoff's studio was located at Mornington Crescent; he then moved to Bethnal Green, where he lived until 1961. Kossoff studied at the Royal College of Art from 1953 to 1956. In 1956, Kossoff joined Helen Lessore's Beaux Arts Gallery, located on Bruton Place in London. In 1959, Kossoff began to teach at the Regent Street Polyte Leon Kossoff
Born (1926-12-10)10 December 1926 Died 4 July 2019(2019-07-04) (aged 92) Known for Painting Movement School of London Early years and education
Career