Leon Kossoff

Mehr zum Buch

Leon Kossoff is a distinctive British artist known for his profound connection to London's urban landscape. Born in Islington in 1926, he has spent most of his life there, with the city's transformation serving as a major theme in his art. In the 1950s, his dramatic paintings and drawings of bomb sites captured the aftermath of war, leading to panoramic railway landscapes in the following decade that depicted the city's regeneration. Kossoff's focus on London's railways, from King's Cross to Kilburn Underground station, highlights the lifeblood of the city. His works, including depictions of swimming pools, street scenes, markets, and buildings, create a vivid portrait of modern metropolitan life. Alongside his fascination with London, Kossoff has a deep concern for people, making the figure a central theme in his work. His subjects include family, friends, and models with whom he has developed close relationships. His portraits and intimate nude studies evoke powerful and moving representations of the human presence. This catalogue accompanies a major retrospective exhibition at the Tate Gallery, showcasing Kossoff's career from the 1950s to the present. It features color reproductions of every work in the exhibition, an illustrated essay by curator Paul Moorhouse exploring Kossoff's artistic development, a biographical chronology with archival photographs, and an extensive bibliography.