Leon Kossoff

Leon Kossoff (10 December 1926 – 4 July 2019) was a British figurative painter known for his portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England.

Early years and education Kossoff was born on City Road in Islington, London. He spent most of his early life living there with his Russian-Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. His father was a baker. and in 1996 he was the subject of a Tate Gallery retrospective. In 2007, London's National Gallery held an exhibition of Kossoff's work entitled "Leon Kossoff: Drawing from Painting". Kossoff declined appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2010, Kossoff exhibited a travelling show of new paintings and drawings, beginning at Annely Juda Fine Art, London, then travelling to Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, and ending at L.A. Louver, Los Angeles. In 2013–14, Kossoff's urban landscapes were shown in a travelling international exhibition, titled "Leon Kossoff: London Landscapes".

Death and legacy Kossoff died at the age of 92 on 4 July 2019 from complications of a stroke.

In 2023, Hastings Contemporary organised a two-person exhibition with the work of Chaïm Soutine and Leon Kossoff. In 2024, Kossoff's work was the subject of an exhibition entitled 'Close Encounters: Paintings and Drawings' at Xavier Hufkens.

Art market His best selling painting in the art market is Children's Swimming Pool, Autumn Afternoon (1971), sold for £5,200,000 ($7,065,012) at Sotheby's London, on 4 March 2026. It surpassed by a large margin the previous record, held by Willesden Junction - Autumn Afternoon (1971), who had sold by £1,388,750 ($1,79 million), at Christie's, on 19 November 2018.