# Leon Kossoff artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/leon-kossoff/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T10:40:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1926-12-07
- Death date: 2019-07-04
- Nationality: British
- Movements: Post-war British figurative painting
- Common media: oil painting, charcoal drawing, printmaking

## About Leon Kossoff

Leon Kossoff (1926–2019) was a British figurative painter whose work is rooted in decades of direct observation of London and the people closest to him. Born and based in the city, he studied under David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic, an experience that cemented his commitment to drawing and painting from life. Kossoff is recognized for his heavily impastoed oils and his charcoal drawings, depicting building sites, railway bridges, churches, and swimming pools across London, alongside sustained portrait sessions with family and friends. His paintings accumulate and scrape away layers of paint over extended periods, producing surfaces of striking physical density. Major institutions holding his work include Tate, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery in London. He continued to work in his native city until his death in 2019 at the age of 92.

## Common works and media

Common works include oil on board and oil on canvas paintings of London cityscapes—especially views of Dalston Junction, Christ Church Spitalfields, and urban building sites—as well as charcoal and graphite life drawings. Kossoff also produced etchings and other prints in limited editions. Portraits of his regular sitters, including family members and fellow painters, recur throughout his career. Works on paper, including pastel and charcoal studies, appear regularly at auction alongside his paintings.

## Market and appraisal context

Leon Kossoff's work appears at auction as oil paintings, charcoal and graphite drawings, and prints. Key valuation factors include medium, with oils on board or canvas typically commanding higher prices than works on paper; subject matter, as his London cityscapes and recurring portraits of close sitters are particularly prized; provenance; and the condition of his characteristically thick impasto surfaces. Prints, including etchings produced in limited editions, represent a more accessible collecting segment. Works from his mature period, spanning the 1970s through the 2000s, are most commonly encountered. Auction results vary considerably depending on size, date, and exhibition history, and collectors should weigh comparable public sale records carefully.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine published artist identity research with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, comparable lots, and market context when those records are available. For Leon Kossoff, identity data is grounded in museum and authority-file sources including Tate, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, Getty ULAN, VIAF, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/46021
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/leon-kossoff-1436
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q361396
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Kossoff
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500004883
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/90776458/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/7004