Frank Auerbach

Acquired directly from the artist by Mr and Mrs F.S. Hess in the late 1950s and thence by descent to the present owner

London, Beaux Arts Gallery, Frank Auerbach, 3 - 28th January 1956;
London, Hayward Gallery, Frank Auerbach, 4th May - 2nd July 1978, cat. no.4, with tour to Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.

Robert Hughes, Frank Auerbach, Thames and Hudson, 1990, cat. no.49, p.81, illustrated;
Norman Rosenthal, Catherine Lampert and Isabel Carlisle, Frank Auerbach: Paintings and Drawings 1954 -2001, Royal Academy of Arts, London 2001, illustrated in fig.28; 
William Feaver, Frank Auerbach, Rizzoli International Publications, New York 2009, cat.no.25, illustrated pp.29 & 238.

The canvas appears to be in good original condition. The paint surface is intentionally pitted and is in good overall condition. There is no sign of retouching under ultra-violet light. Held under glass in a wooden box frame. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

'Auerbach's heads of Leon Kossoff, from 1954, are as dense with the hopes invested in them as they are dense with matter, the white face surfacing like a memory lit on in the dark. Each may be regarded as occupying the bare stage. Each is a retrieval. Each is become, from embryo, a "full result".' (Feaver, op.cit., p.6)

This superb painting stands as an early statement of Auerbach's commitment to both his sitters and the act of painting. One of a group of paintings and drawings that take his friend Leon Kossoff as a subject, the richness which Auerbach extracts from the limited range of pigments forces the viewer to address both the presence of the sitter and the physical substance of the paint itself.

Kossoff and Auerbach first met in 1949 whilst students at St Martin's and struck up a close friendship. Auerbach's reaction to Kossoff failing his year at St Martin's conveys his great admiration for the artist, five years his senior; 'I had a very limited art education, but I knew what artists were! Artists were people who failed exams, got thrown out of art school, and were not subservient to their teachers - I recognised a certain magnanimity of talent in Kossoff.' (Auerbach quoted in Robert Hughes, op.cit., p.29).

Auerbach and Kossoff's shared interests and admiration for the teaching of David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic formed a bond between them and in their early work they both pursue similar subject matter, tirelessly working in the life room, painting and drawing each other and scouring the building sites of post-war London. Their paintings share a similar palette, the drab earth colours, greys, whites and blacks, all pigments that could be bought cheaply and in quantity. However, whilst their early paintings convey superficial similarities, a more indepth view clearly shows each artist forging their own very distinct characteristics. 

Perhaps the most 'true to life' of the painted portraits of Kossoff, Auerbach here presents his friend turned away, his head lowered and gazing down. It is almost a snapshot pose, but the way in which the viewpoint has closed in and the image fills the confines of the picture plane gives this head a monumental quality that bespeaks the deep observation that has brought it into being. The paint surface is rich and thick as Auerbach has worked layers of paint one over another, and the contrast of the white and grey pigments on the lit areas of Kossoff's brow and cheek with the shadowy darks of the eye sockets and the area beyond his jaw give the painting a strength of composition that is unforgettable. This air of authenticity, of focused observance of a real person, is a key element in Auerbach's work which is as powerful in his paintings as in his scrubbed and reworked charcoal drawings. This sense of reality, of a sitter presented without artifice, is incredibly persuasive and is an element of his work that remains just as powerfully to the fore in his most recent paintings.