萊昂·科索夫

L.A. Louver Gallery, Los Angeles

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2004

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illiustration are fairly accurate although the overall tonality is less saturated in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
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“Every time the model sits everything has changed. […]The light has changed, the balance has changed. The directions you try to remember are no longer there and, whether working from the model or landscape drawings, everything has to be reconstructed daily, many many times. A painter is engaged in a working process and the work is concerned with making the paint relate to his experience of seeing and being in the world” (Leon Kossoff, ‘Everything is Ever the Same’ in: Exhibition Catalogue, Venice, Leon Kossoff: Recent Paintings: XlVI Venice Biennale, British Pavilion, 1995, p. 25).

Brimming with texture, incident and agitation, the surface of Leon Kossoff’s Portrait of Chaim resembles the rapids of a fast-flowing river, catching and reflecting the light through its complex balance of density and fluidity. Kossoff attempts to relay his own unique perception of reality through the visceral layering of loaded brushstrokes upon the flat surface of panel; immediately drawing our attention to the materiality of the oil paint. His subject matter is always of a personal nature, creating intimate portraits of a small circle of friends, relatives and models. In the present work, Kossoff depicts his brother Chaim, who became one of his most prominent subjects after the passing of his father in 1982, another example of which is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In contrast to the congested energy of his early portraits, the series of portraits of Chaim possess a startling clarity with a relaxed and new-found grandeur that distinguishes them as some of Kossoff’s most powerful paintings.

Born in 1926 in Islington, London, Leon Kossoff was formally trained at St Martin’s School of Art and the Royal College of Art from 1949-1956. However, it was through his attendance of classes at Borough Polytechnic, alongside good friend and artist Frank Auerbach, that he was exposed to the highly influential teachings of David Bomberg. Bomberg’s now legendary classes became a hub for artistic inspiration during the 1940s and 1950s, imparting to his students his fervent belief in the prominence of drawing. These philosophies are evident in the practice of Kossoff, who views drawing as an essential activity, both in its own right and as an indispensable prerequisite to the execution of a painting. When speaking of drawing, Bomberg stated that, “drawing… reveals the unknown things… style is ephemeral – form is eternal” (David Bomberg quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, Venice, Leon Kossoff: Recent Paintings: XlVI Venice Biennale, British Pavilion, 1995, p. 17). The latter half of this statement aptly summarises Kossoff’s ability to maintain his own unique style, eschewing those momentary fads within painting, which have passed over the decades, in favour of those steeped in art historical traditions.

Kossoff’s style was more extreme and more abstract than the works of Bomberg, developing a heavy impasto technique within his paintings - extending the lineage that was begun by Bacon, de Staël and de Kooning, who had bestowed upon paint an autonomous capacity. Kossoff utilised this impasto technique to create a method of production that involves scraping back or blotting the paint after a number of hours of application. As such, the physical execution of the final state of a painting can be relatively quick in comparison to the total amount of time spent on the painting, which may be many months. This method is analogous to Alberto Giacometti’s sculptural practice, where time and time again the clay or plaster was stripped down to the armature and then completely rebuilt. This can be found in Giacometti’s Bust of Diego, an intimate bronze casting of the artists brother, currently held at Tate. This cyclical process of recreation results in a rapid realisation of the image, producing a greater sense of fluidity and movement.

Portrait of Chaim, executed in earthen tones on a larger than life-size scale, not only gives a presence to the face of the chosen subject but also to the procedures of the making. Presumably due to the intimate relationship between painter and sitter, Kossoff finds almost an immediate sympathy with his subject. The resulting portrait fuses an honest warmth of feeling with excitement in the act of creation, transmitting a vivid evocation of the human spirit.