The School of London was a loose movement of 20th-century painters, based principally in London, who were interested in figurative painting, in contrast to the abstraction, minimalism and conceptualism which were dominant at the time. [1] Painters associated with the School of London included Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Anne Dunn, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, R. B. Kitaj and Leon Kossoff.
The School of London pursued an art focused on a kind of loose figurative form of post-war realism that reflected the people and the world around them. The term resonated regardless of the fact that there was no agreement on what this new figurative painting should look like, since the styles of painting of the group so markedly differed, ranging from the violent brushwork of Bacon and Andrews to the more explicit figuration of the celebrated Freud and Hockney. The common thread that held the London group together was less any form of explicit expression than their shared appreciation for the tradition and history of figurative painting in a time dominated by abstract painting. At the time this new wave of figurative painting was very controversial, running against the dominance of abstraction, minimalism, and conceptualism, violating the sacred hermetic codes that defined these forms of art.
The term School of London was first used in the catalogue for R. B. Kitaj's 1976 Hayward Gallery exhibition, in which Kitaj wrote:
There are artistic personalities in this small island more unique and strong and I think more numerous than anywhere in the world outside America's jolting artistic vigor. There are ten or more people in this town, or not far away, of world class, including my friends of abstract persuasion. In fact I think there is a substantial School of London... If some of the strange and fascinating personalities you may encounter here were given a fraction of the internationalist attention and encouragement reserved in this barren time for provincial and orthodox vanguardism, a School of London might be more real than the one I have construed in my head. A School of real London in England, in Europe ... with potent art lessons for foreigners emerging from this odd old, put upon, very singular place. [2]
Frank Helmut Auerbach was a German-British painter. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, he was a naturalised British subject from 1947 on. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Patrick Joseph Caulfield,, was an English painter and printmaker known for his bold canvases, which often incorporated elements of photorealism within a pared-down scene. Examples of his work are Pottery and Still Life Ingredients.
Lucian Michael Freud was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish architect Ernst L. Freud and the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Freud got his first name "Lucian" from his mother in memory of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. His family moved to England in 1933, when he was 10 years old, to escape the rise of Nazism. He became a British naturalized citizen in 1939. From 1942 to 1943 he attended Goldsmiths' College, London. He served at sea with the British Merchant Navy during the Second World War.
Ronald Brooks Kitaj was an American artist who spent much of his life in England.
Michael James Andrews was a British painter.
The Portrait Now was an exhibition of contemporary portraiture held from 1993 to 1994 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Among many others it included portraits by Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Tony Bevan, Chuck Close, Jim Dine, Peter Edwards, Stephen Finer, Lucian Freud, Richard Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, David Hockney, Panayiotis Kalorkoti, Jeff Koons, Leon Kossoff, Alice Neel, Nam June Paik, David Salle, Julian Schnabel and Andy Warhol. It presented a decade of portraiture focusing on the forms of sculpture and painting, however it also included some video pieces.
Painting the Century: 101 Portrait Masterpieces 1900–2000 was an international exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2000–2001 that exhibited a painting representing each year of the 20th century. A book of the same name was published by the National Portrait Gallery by Robin Gibson with an introduction by Professor Norbert Lynton that illustrates all works exhibited.
Abbot Hall Art Gallery is an art gallery in Kendal, England. Abbot Hall was built in 1759 by Colonel George Wilson, the second son of Daniel Wilson of Dallam Tower, a large house and country estate nearby. It was built on the site of the old Abbot's Hall, roughly where the museum is today. Before the Dissolution of the Monasteries this was where the Abbot or his representative would stay when visiting from the mother house of St Mary's Abbey, York. The architect is unknown. During the early twentieth century the Grade I listed building was dilapidated and has been restored as an art gallery.
Leon Kossoff was a British figurative painter known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England.
20th-century Western painting begins with the heritage of late-19th-century painters Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others who were essential for the development of modern art. At the beginning of the 20th century, Henri Matisse and several other young artists including the pre-cubist Georges Braque, André Derain, Raoul Dufy and Maurice de Vlaminck, revolutionized the Paris art world with "wild", multi-colored, expressive landscapes and figure paintings that the critics called Fauvism. Matisse's second version of The Dance signified a key point in his career and in the development of modern painting. It reflected Matisse's incipient fascination with primitive art: the intense warm color of the figures against the cool blue-green background and the rhythmical succession of the dancing nudes convey the feelings of emotional liberation and hedonism.
Dennis Creffield was a British artist with work owned by major British and worldwide art collections, including the Tate Gallery, The British Museum, Arts Council of England, the Government Art Collection, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Leeds City Art Gallery, University of Leeds collection, Williams College Museum of Art, University of Brighton collection, Swindon Art Gallery collection and others.
Timothy Hyman was a British figurative painter, art writer and curator. He published monographs on both Sienese Painting and on Pierre Bonnard, as well as most recently The World New Made: Figurative Painting in the Twentieth Century. He wrote extensively on art and film, was a regular contributor to The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) and curated exhibitions at the Tate, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Hayward galleries. Hyman was a portraitist but is best known for his narrative renditions of London. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Max Beckmann and Bonnard, as well as Lorenzetti and Brueghel, he explored his personal relationship, both real and mythological, with the city where he lived and worked. He employed vivid colours, shifting scale and perspectives, to create visionary works. He was elected an RA in 2011.
Sandra Maureen Fisher, was an American figure painter based in London and who was born in New York City.
Jake Auerbach is a British film maker specialising in documentary subjects. Though his films have ranged across the cultural spectrum he is best known for his portraits of artists both contemporary and historical.
Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated in 1971 to its present location, 40 West 57th Street. The gallery operates another New York space on West 25th Street, which opened in 2007. It briefly opened a Lower East Side space on Broome Street.
Celia Paul is an Indian-born British painter. Paul's mainly known for her impressionistic work, which she developed during her education at the Slade School of Fine Art. Paul lives and works in London, England.
Helen Lessore OBE was a British gallerist and the director of the Beaux Arts Gallery in London. She was also a painter.
Harry Diamond was a photographer known for his photographs of artists, jazz musicians, and the East End of London. He was born and worked in London.
The British pavilion houses Great Britain's national representation during the Venice Biennale arts festivals.
Piano Nobile is a commercial art gallery in London, England, specialising in twentieth-century British art. It was established by Dr Robert Travers at premises in Richmond in 1985. In 2000, the gallery moved to its current address at 129 Portland Road, London. In 2019, an additional gallery space was acquired at 96 Portland Road. Between 2008 and 2019, the gallery also had an exhibition space at Kings Place in King’s Cross.