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. The London School of painters pursued an art focused on a kind of loose figurative form of post war

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

that reflected of the forms and people and the world around them. The term resonated regardless of the fact that there was no agreement of what this new figurative painting should look like, since the styles of painting of the group so markedly differed. Ranging from the violent brushwork presented by Bacon and Andrews, to the more explicit figuration of the celebrated

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) 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 Jewis ...

, and

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

. The common thread that held the London group together is less any form of explicit expression rather 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. Painters associated with the School of London included Michael Andrews,

Frank Auerbach Frank Helmut Auerbach (born 29 April 1931) is a German-British painter. Born in Germany, he has been a naturalised British subject since 1947. He is considered one of the leading names in the School of London, with fellow artists Francis Bacon ...

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

Howard Hodgkin Sir Gordon Howard Eliott Hodgkin (6 August 1932 – 9 March 2017) was a British painter and printmaker. His work is most often associated with abstraction. Early life Gordon Howard Eliot Hodgkin was born on 6 August 1932 in Hammersmith, ...

, R.B. Kitaj,

Anne Dunn Anne Dunn (born 4 September, 1929) is an English artist associated with the second generation of the School of London. Background and education Born in London, England, Dunn is the daughter of the Canadian steel magnate Sir James Dunn, 1st ba ...

and Leon Kossoff. The term ''School of London'' was first used in the catalog for R.B. Kitaj's 1976

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

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.

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Authority control British art movements Figurative art 20th century in art Arts in London

See also

References

Sources