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LEON KOSSOFF: DRAWN FROM REVELERY
Leon Kossoff: Drawn from Revelery
Leon Kossoff: Drawn from Revelery is an exhibition of Leon Kossoff’s drawings on view online at L.A. Louver in Los Angeles.
Leon Kossoff had a lifelong practice of drawing from the Old Masters, most often in the galleries of London’s National Gallery. The focus in this presentation is on The Triumph of Pan and Bacchanal Before a Herm, two series of images that grew from Kossoff’s close viewing of a major exhibition of the work of Nicholas Poussin that took place at London’s Royal Academy in 1995. In these works, Kossoff captures the Dionysian revelry and compositional rigor of the classical master, all channeled through his own particular style of loose abstraction via urgent, energetic drawing.
Kossoff’s collaborations on these subjects with printmakers Ann Dowker and Mark Balakjian produced distinct, lyric prints that capture the energy and compositional solidity of Poussin with an urgency of line that is all his own. Working with the two different printers allowed exploration of divergent aspects of Kossoff’s experience with Poussin. Balakjian produced consistent results with tightly drawn, concise images, while Dowker, a fellow artist rather than a professional printmaker, retained the freshness and immediacy of Kossoff’s drawings. Kossoff delighted in experi-mentation with her, using unique Artist Proofs to see the variation produced by different colored inks, diverse papers, and various wipings on the plates to evoke a classical quality that is very much related to his drawings.
Images Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA © Estate of Leon Kossoff.
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