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Lot Essay
This rare early drawing of a sleeping man, presumably the artist's father, is a study for a painting located in the collection of the Israel Museum. For Kossoff drawing is an essential part of painting, a quest for individual search and discovery of emotions that emerge through dense volumes of darkness.
In response to his friendship with Frank Auerbach, in the early '50s Kossoff started attending life drawing classes held by David Bomberg, who influenced him extensively in the handling of charcoal. As Sleeping Man I shows, the act of drawing enables Kossoff to deeply confront himself with his subjects, masterfully creating figurative depictions which are densely charged with both physical and psychological traits. At the centre of Kossoff's work is an individual search for truth, and it is precisely for this reason that he felt the need to draw for extensive periods of time before moving onto painting. Drawing, however, should not be merely seen as a preparatory stage for his painting, but rather as a means to carry out and practice daily discoveries.
'Every day I awake with the idea that today I must teach myself to draw. I have also each day to experience the fact that images can only emerge out of chaos.' (Leon Kossoff quoted in Richard Kendall, Drawn to Painting: Leon Kossoff Drawings and Prints after Nicolas Poussin, exh, cat., Merrell Publishers Ltd, London, 2000)
Dramatic and yet sombre, Sleeping Man I reveals the paradox that lies beneath Kossoff's practice. On the one hand his existential quest, an almost obsessive attitude towards discovery and creation rendered through intense sittings with his subjects; and on the other a profound alienation that weighs heavily on the conscious of the viewer.
'The fabric of my work through the last forty years has been dependent on those people who have so patiently sat for me, each one uniquely transforming my space by their presence...'
(L. Kossoff, quoted in P. Moorhouse, Ieon Kossoff, exh.cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1996, p. 36).
In response to his friendship with Frank Auerbach, in the early '50s Kossoff started attending life drawing classes held by David Bomberg, who influenced him extensively in the handling of charcoal. As Sleeping Man I shows, the act of drawing enables Kossoff to deeply confront himself with his subjects, masterfully creating figurative depictions which are densely charged with both physical and psychological traits. At the centre of Kossoff's work is an individual search for truth, and it is precisely for this reason that he felt the need to draw for extensive periods of time before moving onto painting. Drawing, however, should not be merely seen as a preparatory stage for his painting, but rather as a means to carry out and practice daily discoveries.
'Every day I awake with the idea that today I must teach myself to draw. I have also each day to experience the fact that images can only emerge out of chaos.' (Leon Kossoff quoted in Richard Kendall, Drawn to Painting: Leon Kossoff Drawings and Prints after Nicolas Poussin, exh, cat., Merrell Publishers Ltd, London, 2000)
Dramatic and yet sombre, Sleeping Man I reveals the paradox that lies beneath Kossoff's practice. On the one hand his existential quest, an almost obsessive attitude towards discovery and creation rendered through intense sittings with his subjects; and on the other a profound alienation that weighs heavily on the conscious of the viewer.
'The fabric of my work through the last forty years has been dependent on those people who have so patiently sat for me, each one uniquely transforming my space by their presence...'
(L. Kossoff, quoted in P. Moorhouse, Ieon Kossoff, exh.cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1996, p. 36).