| Description |
Catalogue to accompany a major exhibition of 27 recent paintings and drawings by leading British artist Leon Kossoff.
Kossoff (b.1926) is one of Britain’s greatest living artists. He continues to paint scenes of London as one of his abiding subjects – such as Hawksmoor’s Christchurch, Spitalfields, which is represented in the exhibition by three major works. Central to the exhibition are depictions of a single cherry tree in a Willesden garden that Kossoff had viewed for years. When the tree began to lean, the decision was made to buttress it with two wooden stakes, rather than let it fall to decay. It is in this rather poignant form that it became the focus of the body of work, both
painted and drawn. It once must have belonged to a larger orchard, before the surrounding gardens were built, and in its singular form displays both strength and dignity. As with so much of Kossoff’s work, the paintings’ resonance comes from the artist’s ability to render a very personal response to the long, careful and considered observation of his subjects, which at the same time are able to communicate rather universal sentiments. These recent paintings are a revelation – still impregnated with the paint and rich brushwork that have come to define Kossoff, they are gentle in tone and palette and are particularly atmospheric. |