Leon Kossoff British, 1926-2019
Self-portrait, 1978
oil on board
37 x 26 cm
14.6 x 10.2 in
Andrea Rose, writer of the catalogue raisonne and trustee of the Kossoff Estate, has said the following about this work: The painting was done in the studio of his house...
Andrea Rose, writer of the catalogue raisonne and trustee of the Kossoff Estate, has said the following about this work:
The painting was done in the studio of his house in Willesden Green, shortly after Kossoff had turned fifty. Fifty: a half-way point; an age of both reflection and looking forward, and the painting contains both these elements, held together in a dynamic counterpoise. Even on the very small scale of this portrait, the paint is kept on the go the whole time, so that you are constantly drawn into the activity of the painting yourself, as if you are watching the artist at work, following his brushstrokes, as if it is all happening in front of you, now. All this movement, this energy, makes the painting feel urgent, as if something is about to happen. ‘About to’. ‘Immanence’ . The words describe a sense that something has just been caught, and that at any moment it could become something else. That is what defines Kossoff’s genius - that somehow he has caught the volatility of the moment, and yet through his rigorous control of his materials, has captured it, and is holding it for an instant. This is what makes his paintings so rewarding to look at, and to live with. They appear to be always changing - with time, with light, with the sensations and the emotions that the viewer himself brings to it.
The painting was done in the studio of his house in Willesden Green, shortly after Kossoff had turned fifty. Fifty: a half-way point; an age of both reflection and looking forward, and the painting contains both these elements, held together in a dynamic counterpoise. Even on the very small scale of this portrait, the paint is kept on the go the whole time, so that you are constantly drawn into the activity of the painting yourself, as if you are watching the artist at work, following his brushstrokes, as if it is all happening in front of you, now. All this movement, this energy, makes the painting feel urgent, as if something is about to happen. ‘About to’. ‘Immanence’ . The words describe a sense that something has just been caught, and that at any moment it could become something else. That is what defines Kossoff’s genius - that somehow he has caught the volatility of the moment, and yet through his rigorous control of his materials, has captured it, and is holding it for an instant. This is what makes his paintings so rewarding to look at, and to live with. They appear to be always changing - with time, with light, with the sensations and the emotions that the viewer himself brings to it.
