Leon Kossoff is a British expressionist painter, known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England. Leon Kossoff was born in 1926 in Islington, London, and spent most of his early life living there with his Russian Jewish parents. In 1938, he attended the Hackney Downs School in London. In 1939, he was evacuated with the school to King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he lived with Mr and Mrs R.C. Bishop, who encouraged his interest in art. During this time, Kossoff made his first paintings. When he returned to London in 1943, Kossoff went to Saint Martin's School of Art, and studied commercial art. He also attended life drawing classes in the evenings at Toynbee Hall. After his education was completed he spent three years in military service with the Royal Fusiliers, attached to the 2nd Battalion Jewish Brigade, and served in Italy, Holland, Belgium and Germany. After his military service, he returned to the Saint Martin?s School of Art in 1949, and at Borough Polytechnic, took special classes under David Bomberg from 1950 to 1952. He was also influenced by another one of his teacher?s students, Frank Auerbach. 

December 7th, 1926 in London  /  Died:   Jul 4th, 2019 - aged 92