Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert

© Toby Glanville

Painter of figures, portraits, suburban scenes and landscape in oils. Kossoff was born in London of Russian-Jewish parents, he studied at St Martin’s School of Art 1948-53, in the evenings under Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic 1959-52, and at the RAC 1953-56. He held solo exhibitions at the Beaux Arts Gallery from 1957 to 1964, subsequently showing in London galleries (including Anthony d’Offay), and in America. He has exhibited internationally in group shows and his work is represented in collections including the Tate Gallery.

The themes in Kossoff’s work are drawn from the city around him, and from the age of twelve he has obsessively sketched and painted London filling the canvas with non- picturesque scenes of the city. Although he returns to the same motifs and draws in series, the images range widely from street view to panoramic vista. Kossoff lives and works in London to this day.

“London, like the paint I use, seems to be in my bloodstream. It’s always moving- the skies, the street, the buildings. The people who walk past me when I draw have become part of my life”