Helen Lessore

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(31 October 1907 – 6 May 1994) was a British gallerist and the director of the

Beaux Arts Gallery Beaux Arts Gallery was a gallery at 1 Bruton Place, London, England. It was known as a preeminent center for promoting avant-garde art until its closure in 1965. Founded and operated by portrait sculptor Frederick Lessore in 1923, the gallery wa ...

in London. She as also a painter.

Early life

She was born Helen Brook on 31 October 1907 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Morphet, Richard (8 May 1994)
"Obituary: Helen Lessore"
''The Independent'', Retrieved 14 April 2014. Her father, Abraham Brook (c.1876–1944), had come to London from Lithuania. Her mother, Edith Berliner (1881–1935), was English, from a Frankfurt family of Spanish descent. Brook studied at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

from 1924 to 1928.Bohm-Duchen, Monica
"Artist Biography"
Tate, Retrieved 14 April 2014. She married the sculptor and gallerist Frederick Lessore in 1934. They had two sons, Henry Lessore, a writer, born 1937, and John Lessore, an artist, born 1939.

Career

Beaux Arts Gallery

In 1931 she began to work as a secretary at the

, which was founded by the sculptor Frederick Lessore, on Bruton Place in London. Increasingly involved in the running of the gallery and the management of artists, she published the first of many articles on the painter

Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...

in 1932. In the years following World War II, the

became noted for championing figurative painting. When Frederick died in 1951, Helen took over full directorship of the gallery. Under her leadership, the Beaux Arts Gallery became specifically known for exhibiting artists from the

Kitchen Sink School Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" w ...

. In particular, four artists from the Kitchen Sink School became known as the Beaux Arts Quartet:

John Bratby John Randall Bratby RA (19 July 1928 – 20 July 1992) was an English painter who founded the kitchen sink realism style of art that was influential in the late 1950s. He made portraits of his family and celebrities. His works were seen i ...

, Derrick Greaves, Jack Smith and

Edward Middleditch Edward Middleditch (1923–1987) was an English artist. He was born in Chelmsford, Essex. In the 1930s his family moved to Nottingham, where he attended thMundella Grammar Schoolfrom 1934 to 1939. He then served in the British Army during the ...

. It is especially noteworthy that each of these artists was chosen before they achieved widespread recognition at the 1956 Venice Biennial. Lessore was also key in championing young, unknown artists. For instance,

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 ...

had a solo exhibition at the Beaux Art Gallery in 1953.

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 ...

and

Leon Kossoff Leon Kossoff (10 December 1926 – 4 July 2019) was a British figurative painter known for portraits, life drawings and cityscapes of London, England. Early years and education Kossoff was born in Islington, London, and spent most of his early ...

held their first solo exhibitions at the gallery in 1956 and 1957, respectively. Lessore ran the gallery until its closure in 1965. The gallery's final exhibition was a show of her son, the artist

John Lessore John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Artist

A full retrospective of Lessore's paintings was exhibited at the

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

in London in 1987. Her paintings can currently be found in public collections around Great Britain, including the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

. and the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

."Miss Edna Brook"
BBC Your Paintings, Retrieved 15 April 2014.

Recognition

Lessore was made an

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in 1958 for her services to the arts at the

1958 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1958 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lessore, Helen 1907 births 1994 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from London Royal Academicians