Portrait of Chaim, Number 1
Leon Kossoff British
Not on view
The artist’s brother Chaim, a bespectacled middle-aged man, is seen here casually dressed in a sweater and tie; he sits in a red chair, hands clasped across his stomach. His head tilts to one side, and his eyes are closed as if he were napping. The space of the composition is severely compressed, so that the figure seems to sit on the actual canvas surface. The colors of the painting are relatively dark and muted, with strong linear accents in black. This is one of the largest and most complete portraits of Chaim that Kossoff painted between 1985 and 1988, and it captures the sitter’s solid dignity and, perhaps, quiet forbearance.
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