23 January–1 March 2014
L.A. Louver
45 North Venice Boulevard
Venice, California
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10am–6pm
Related programming:
Leon Kossoff and the Old Masters
Tuesday, 11 February, 7pm
John Walsh (Director Emeritus, J. Paul Getty Museum) and Peter Goulds (Founding Director, L.A. Louver), discuss the influence of the Old Masters on Leon Kossoff ‘s drawings and paintings in a conversation moderated by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp (art critic & journalist).
Leon Kossoff: London Landscapes
Tuesday, 18 February, 7pm
Sneak preview of an exclusive documentary on Leon Kossoff. (A five-minute trailer of the film can be viewed on our YouTube page: youtube.com/lalouver)
The events are free, but reservations are recommended. Kindly RSVP to rsvp [at] lalouver.com or T +1 310 822 4955.
L.A. Louver is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by British artist Leon Kossoff (b. 1926) that features over 90 rarely seen drawings and seven paintings from 1952–2012.
With a career spanning over six decades, Leon Kossoff continues to approach drawing as a vital practice of discovery. No subject has proven more stimulating than his beloved hometown of London. Kossoff ‘s drawings of London reveal an artist compelled to capture his subjects—from demolition sites to construction sites, bustling crowds to places of abandon—with immediacy and vigor. Emerging from his intensely energetic markings in charcoal and pastel, Kossoff conveys a surging city constantly evolving.
Imbued with a sense of familiarity and intimacy, the drawings transport one directly into Kossoff ‘s London. His earliest subjects, such as the building site in front of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the train tracks that crossed near his studio, reflect a desolate London recovering from World War II. Human activity begins to surface in subsequent drawings with depictions of residents taking leisurely strolls, and crowds spilling from underground stations. However, in his most recent series (all created in 2012), Kossoff presents his London in a new light: With a delicate hand, he instills his childhood neighborhood of Arnold Circus in London’s East End with a resplendent sensitivity.
Seven paintings are included in the exhibition, and offer a glimpse into how drawing has informed Kossoff’s painting. “The drawings are like paintings really,” says Kossoff. “Drawings can become paintings, paintings stay drawings. The whole thing about painting is realizing that you are experiencing something in your mind.”
Leon Kossoff: London Landscapes at L.A. Louver marks the final destination for this traveling exhibition. Debuting at Annely Juda Fine Art, London in May 2013, the exhibition traveled to Galerie Lelong , Paris in September 2013 and Mitchell Innes & Nash, New York in November 2013.
A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, and includes text by Andrea Rose, Director of Visual Arts, British Council, and curator of Kossoff ‘s exhibition at the 1995 Venice Biennale.
LeonKossoff (b. 1926) is one of Britain’s preeminent living artists. His most recent US museum exhibitions include Drawn to Painting: Leon Kossoff, Drawings and Prints after Nicolas Poussin, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (traveled to National Gallery of Australia, Canberra in 2002) and After Nicholas Poussin: New Etchings by Leon Kossoff, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2000. Exhibitions worldwide also include Leon Kossoff : Drawing from Painting, National Gallery, London, 2007; Leon Kossoff : Selected Paintings, 1956–2000, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark, 2004–2005 (traveled to Museum of Art Lucerne, Switzerland; 2005); a major retrospective at the Tate Gallery, London, 1996, and representing Britain in the XLVI Venice Biennale, 1995 (traveled to Düsseldorf Kunstverein, and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1995–1996).
L.A. Louver has represented Leon Kossoff since 1979. Learn more at www.lalouver.com/Kossoff.
For more information and visuals, please contact Christina Carlos:
T +1 310 822 4955 / F +1 310 821 7529 / christina [at] lalouver.com.