John Lessore

British b.1939

The painter John Lessore was born in London in 1939. His mother, Helen was a painter, and his father Frederick Lessore was an art dealer and founded the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1923, which Helen took over after his death. Exhibitions at the Beaux Arts Gallery include the first solo show for Christopher Wood, one of the first exhibitions by Barbara Hepworth and her husband John Skeaping, solo exhibitions for Francis Bacon, John Bratby, Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. John Lessore’s artistic legacy continues — his uncle, the artist Walter Sickert, was foundational to shaping twentieth century British Modernism, as he bridged the gap between French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

His family’s influence on his formative years was important, as he himself acknowledged: “My father came of a family of artists from several generations, and both my parents were good judges of art. The house I lived in as a child was hung with pictures by Sickert and various French painters. Somehow I must have understood, unconsciously, that all these good paintings were composed of arrangements and shapes. And by the time I went to the Slade I already knew that I wanted to paint compositions.”

Lessore studied at the Slade School from 1956-7, and was glad that he went there “before the tradition of teaching drawing that had been handed down through the centuries was finally severed in the sixties”. He was particularly grateful for the tuition received from Sir Thomas Monnington (1902-76) whom he acknowledged as an excellent teacher, draughtsman and painter.

Lessore received an Abbey Minor Travelling Scholarship to Italy in 1961, and his first solo exhibition was at the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1965. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy and other London galleries since 1965. His work was included in the Tate Gallery’s Hard-Won Image exhibition in 1984, and his work is represented in collections including the Tate, the Royal Academy and Westminster Hospital, London.

He is a co-founder of the Royal Drawing School (established 2000) and was a trustee of The National Gallery, London (2003-11). He taught at the Royal Academy Schools (1965-99) and co-ran the Life Room at Norwich School of Art with John Wonnacott (1978-86). He lives and works in London, East Anglia and France.