Leon Kossoff

Fischer Fine Art, London, whence purchased by Mr and Mrs Milnes-Smith, 19th May 1982

The sheet is sound. The paper has slightly discoloured and is undulating and there are pinholes in the upper corners. There is a small area of minor staining by the lower left edge, a further spot by the upper right edge and some minor scattered specks of staining along the bottom edge otherwise in good overall condition. Held in a simple wood frame under glass; unexamined out of frame. The paper tones are slightly warmer than the illustration suggests.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1967, a new swimming pool opened near Kossoff’s home in Willesden, and he began taking his son there to teach him to swim. The ever-changing light and acoustics of the building attracted his interest and he began to draw. These works have an instant notational quality that is quite unlike the heavily-worked surfaces of the earlier drawings, and as these drawings became a departure from his previous practice, so too were the resultant paintings. On a large scale, the paintings moved away from the heavy paint surfaces that had characterised his earlier work, developing a thinner surface and brevity of handling that suggests the movement and light inherent in the subject.

 The present drawing is closest in composition to Children’s Swimming Pool, Autumn 1972 (Arts Council Collection), and a number of the figures seen here are translated into the final painting.

To be sold with a copy of the original purchase invoice from Fischer Fine Art dated 19th May 1982.