Leon Kossoff

Building Site, Oxford Street

1952

© Leon Kossoff

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Not on display

Artist
Leon Kossoff 1926 – 2019
Medium
Crayon, charcoal and gouache on paper
Dimensions
Unconfirmed: 1120 × 1335 mm
Frame: 1287 × 1500 × 55mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Purchased 1996
Reference
T07199

Display caption

Like his close friend Frank Auerbach Kossoff was fascinated by building sites during the 1950s. These abounded in London as its bomb-damaged fabric was rebuilt after the war. Perhaps they stood for the transient and ever-changing nature of the modern city. They were also places where the earth beneath the city was revealed.

This drawing, like Auerbach’s painting on the same theme, shows how they also offered a ready-made linear structure for the artist’s picture.

Gallery label, September 2004

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