Chappel Galleries - John Lessore

Where enquiries of prices are made on the gallery, the work is subject to availability and the price to change.

"Discussion Mania" - 2000/02 Oil on Canvas 76 x 114 cms

John Lessore was born in London in 1939. He comes from a distinguished family of artists, many of whom were painters and etchers who also decorated porcelain. His father was a sculptor. He studied at the Slade but did not adopt the then current post-Euston Road style, preferring to develop the practice of painting from quick drawings or studies rather than direct from the motif. He is a painter of moments, those split seconds, of which most of us are not aware, when elements are suddenly "right" together. As if by magic, he grasps and metamorphoses them into images. And then we feel, "That's exactly what it was like!" His preferred subject matter is people, in rooms, out of doors, eating, sleeping or going about the thousand chores that make up life with a small "L". He cares passionately about drawing, which he occasionally teaches at the Prince's Drawing studio in Shoreditch. His palette tends towards subtle and muted, though not necessarily sombre colours. His love of delicate tone, however, comes partly from observation and partly from a lifelong study of the great Dutch, French and Italian masters in the National Gallery, of which he became the artist trustee a year ago. He lives and works in London, East Anglia and France and is, at the moment, working on a portrait group of six British paralympic athletes. JOHN LESSORE - BIOGRAPHY

1939	Born in London
1957-61	Studied at the Slade School of Fine Art
1961	Abbey Minor Travelling Scholarship to Italy
1965-99	Taught at the Royal Academy Schools 1978-86 Taught at the Norwich School of Art
1982	Selected Serpentine Summer Show
1987	Painter in residence at Bryam Shaw School of Art
1991	Korn Ferry International Award, Nomination and joint first prizewinner
1994	The Jerwood Prize, Nomination Lives and works in London, East Anglia and France
2001	Teaching at The Prince's Foundation (now The Prince's Drawing Studio)
2003	Appointed Trustee at the National Gallery, London

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1965	Beaux Arts Gallery, London
1969	Ashgate Gallery, Farnham
1971	New Art Centre, London
1981	Theo Waddington, London
1983	Stoppenbach & Delestre, London
1985	Stoppenbach & De1estre, London
1986	The Sternberg Centre for Judaism, London
1990	Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London
1994	Theo Waddington & Robert Stoppenbach, London
1995	Solomon Gallery, Dublin
1997	Theo Waddington Fine Art, London Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto
1999	Wolsey Art Gallery, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich National Portrait Gallery, London
2000	GiIlian Jason/English Heritage, Rangers House, Blackheath
2004	Chappel Galleries, Essex
2001	Chappel Galleries (solo exhibition).

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1967	English Painting 1951-67, Norwich Castle Museum
1968	Helen Lessore and the Beaux Arts Gallery, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1976	The Human Clay (Arts Council of Great Britain) Hayward Gallery, London, and tour
1977	Greater London Picture Show, London
1978	Spirit of London Exhibition, London (Prizewinner)
1980	Pictures for an Exhibition, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1981	Drawings and Watercolours by 13 British Artists, Marlborough Fine Art, London
1982	The John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 13, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, (Prizewinner)
1983-84	Hayward Annual, Hayward Gallery, London 1983-84 Interiors, Anne Berthoud Gallery, London
1984	The Hard-Won Image, Tate Gallery, London
1984-85	The Proper Study: Contemporary Figurative Paintings from Britain, British Council tour, New Delhi and Bombay
1985	A Singular Vision, Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter, and tour In their Circumstances, Lincoln Art Gallery, and tour
1985-86	Rocks and Flesh, Norwich School of Art Gallery, Norwich, and tour
1986	Seven British Artists: Figure and Landscape, Edward Totah Gallery, London Robin Campbell Memorial Exhibition, Smiths Galleries, London American/European Painting and Sculpture, L.A. Louver, Venice, California
1987	Image in Line, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, New York Flowers, Anne Berthoud Gallery, London
1987-88	British Figurative Painting: A Matter of Paint, Pame1a Auchinc10ss Gallery, Santa Barbara, California and tour
1987-89	Experience of Landscape, (Arts Council of Great Britain) Derby Art Gallery, and tour
1988	A Personal Choice, selected by Jeffery Camp, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London The British Picture, L.A. Louver, Venice, California
1988-90	Past and Present (Arts Council of Great Britain) Manchester City Art Gallery and tour
1989	School of London: Works on Paper, Odette Gilbert Gallery, London Salute to Turner, The National Trust's Foundation for Art, Thos. Agnew & Sons, London
1990	The Pursuuit of the Real: British Figurative Painting from Sickert to Bacon, Manchester City Art Gallery, Barbican Art Gallery, London, and Glasgow City Art Gallery. The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
1991	Critic's Choice, Giles Auty, Beaux Arts, Bath Works on Paper, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London Cabinet paintings, GiIlian Jason Gallery, London, and tour
1993	Contemporary British Portraits, Real & Imagined, GiIlian Jason Gallery Shared Exhibition with Michael Fell, Comteroux, Perpignan Continuing the Tradition, Chappel Galleries, Essex
1993-94	Drawing on these Shores, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, and tour
1994	The Wilkie Gift, Tate Gallery, London
1995	Theo Waddington Fine Art, London
1996	Theo Waddington Fine Art, London
1997	British Figurative Art, Flowers East, London
1999	Landscape and The Imaginative, The Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, London
2003	Different Landscapes, Artspace Gallery, London

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Andersen Consulting, London; Arthur Andersen, London; Arts Council of Great Britain, London; Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo; Ben Uri Art Society, London; British Council, London; Contemporary Art Society; Eastern Arts Association; Government Art Collection; Guildhall Art Gallery, London; Leicestershire Education Committee; Lethbridge University, Alberta, Canada; Manchester City Art Gallery; National Portrait Gallery; Newport Art Gallery, Wales; Norwich Castle Museum; Rationalist Press Association, London; Royal Academy of Arts London; Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter; Sternberg Centre for Judaism, London; Swindon Museum & Art Gallery; Tate Gallery, London; Westminster Hospital, London.

"My Mother on the Terrace" - 1987 Oil on Slate 30.5 x 61 cms

JOHN LESSORE