LEON KOSSOFF

Leon Kossoff is one of the most important figurative painters at work today and is commonly assoictaed with a circle of School of London painters that includes Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and R.B. Kitaj.

At the centre of Kossoff's work is the human figure either in isolation or in urban or domestic settings and the subject is always intimately known, whether it be the seated studio subject or people in the streets of the city.

Leon Kossoff

1926

Born in London.

1938-43

Attended Hackney Downs School, London.

1939-43

Evacuated with school to King's Lynn, Norfolk. Lived with Mr. And Mrs. R.C. Bishop who encouraged his interest in art. Made his first paintings.

1943

Returned to London. Attended life drawing classes at Toynbee Hall, Commercial Street and St. Martin's School of Art, London.

1943-45

Commercial art course at St. Martin's School of Art.

1945-48

Military service with Royal Fusiliers, attached to 2nd Battalion Jewish Brigade. Served in Italy, Belgium, Holland and Germany.

1949-53

Studied at St. Martin's School of Art and the Borough Polytechnic, where he and fellow pupil, Frank Auerbach, were taught by David Bomberg.

1953-56

Studied at the Royal College of Art.

1956

Joined Helen Lessore's Beaux Arts Gallery, Bruton Place, London.

1959-69

Taught at Regent Street Polytechnic, Chelsea School of Art, and St. Martin's School of Art.

1966

Moved studio to Willesden Green.

1972-5

Occupied an additional studio in Dalston Lane, north London.

1976

First Kilburn Underground paintings.

1995

Represented Britain at the Venice Biennale.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2002

Leon Kossoff, Annandale Galleries, Sydney

Leon Kossoff: Drawn to Painting after Poussin, Rubens and Other Related Works, Pillsbury & Peters Fine Art, Dallas, Texas

2000

Leon Kossoff, Annely Juda Gallery, London

1996

Leon Kossoff, Tate Gallery, London

1995

Leon Kossoff, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1988; 1993

Leon Kossoff, Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London

1984

Leon Kossoff, Fischer Fine Art, London

1983

Leon Kossoff, Hirschl and Adler Modern, New York

1982

Leon Kossoff, L.A. Louver, Los Angeles

1981

Leon Kossoff, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford

1973;1975;1979

Leon Kossoff, Fischer Fine Art, London

1972

Leon Kossoff, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London

1966

Leon Kossoff, Marlborough Fine Art, London

1979 and 1984

Leon Kossoff, Fischer Fine Art, London

1957-1964

Leon Kossoff, Six exhibitions at the Beaux Arts Gallery, London

Selected Group Exhibitions

2006

Portraits, James Hyman Gallery, London

2005

Fifty Years of British Landscape Painting, James Hyman Gallery, London

2003

From Life: Andrews, Auerbach, Bevan, Bomberg, Coldstream, Kossoff, Sickert, Uglow, James Hyman Gallery, London

2002

Twentieth Century British paintings and drawings, James Hyman Gallery, London

2001

Auerbach, Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, James Hyman Gallery, London

Selected Collections

Tate Collection, London

MoMa Collection, New York

National Galleries of Scotland

Selected Publications

Elliott, David, introduction to exhibition catalogue, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, 1981

Gowing, Lawrence, 'Here Comes the Diesel', introduction to exhibition catalogue, Anthony d'Offay Gallery, London, 1988

Hyman, James 'The Prints of Leon Kossoff', Print Quarterly, 1993

Hyman, James 'Leon Kossoff', Modern Painters, Spring 1993

Hyman, James, 'Leon Kossoff',Tate magazine, Summer 1996

Hyman, James, exhibition catalogue, Auerbach, Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, James Hyman Fine Art, 10 May - 22 July 2000

Hyman, James, The Battle for Realism, Yale University Press, 2001

Hyman, James 'From Tragedy to Joie de Vivre: Some Thoughts on the Work of Bacon, Freud, Kossoff and Auerbach', exhibition catalogue, Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, Auerbach, Galerie Sander, Berlin, 2003

Hyman, James, 'Radical Figuration', From Life, exhibition catalogue, James Hyman Fine Art, 10 September - 18 October 2003

Mercer, David, introduction to exhibition catalogue, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1972

Moorhouse, Paul, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London, 1996

Sylvester, David, Rudi Fuchs, exhibition catalogue, Venice Biennale, 1995