Leon Kossoff is a British expressionist painter, known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England. He was born in 1926 in Islington, London, and spent most of his early life living there with his Russian Jewish parents. In 1938, he attended the Hackney Downs School in London. In 1939, he was evacuated with the school to King's Lynn, Norfolk, where he lived with Mr and Mrs R.C. Bishop, who encouraged his interest in art. During this time, Kossoff made his first paintings. When he returned to London in 1943, Kossoff went to St Martin's School of Art, and studied commercial art. He also attended life drawing classes in the evenings at Toynbee Hall.

After his education was completed he spent three years in milit...