- 175
Leon Kossoff
Description
- Leon Kossoff
- Self-Portrait No. 1
- oil on board
- 31 by 28.5cm.; 12 1/4 by 11 1/4 in.
- Executed in 1972.
Provenance
Runkel-Hue-Williams Ltd., London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1989
Exhibited
Condition
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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."
Catalogue Note
Known for his London landscapes and expressive portraits, Kossoff is a member of the School of London, a group of painters that includes Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. A regular visitor to the National Gallery since the age of 14, the artist pays homage to the Old Masters throughout his work. His painterly method was rooted in drawing numerous studies, each the product of intimate observation. In the present work, there is a sense of the artist discovering himself through repeated examination and, as Rembrandt before him, of producing a personal confession through vigorous brushstrokes.
Discussing Kossoff's work, Klaus Kertess wrote, “[t]he muted earthen tones, monumental scale, and visceral layering of loaded brushstrokes all congeal into precarious likenesses in Kossoff's heads. There is a sense that both painter and painted seem to struggle together for identity. The modest format (seldom more than 30 inches in height) of the portrait paintings is nevertheless densely packed with drawing incidents; every millimetre of the surface is pulled into action. The heavier the impasto of the face filling the space, the more modulations of light suffuse and transform the face in the portrait. These works radiate a sombre grace and earthenness that can be related to Cézanne’s mid-1860s portraits of his uncle and also to Van Gogh’s early paintings of peasants, both groups of work that are highly regarded by Kossoff” (Exhibition Catalogue, London, Annely Juda Fine Art, Leon Kossoff, 2000, p. 10).