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Lot Essay
By the 1970s the nude predominated Kossoff's work, and one of his most important models, Fidelma, appears regularly. She is most frequently depicted seated, restlessly shifting in her chair or in the process of rising from it.
In contrast, Fidelma Resting affords the model a rare moment of stillness, her reclining form filling the width of the composition. The pink-red cushion that Fidelma reclines on seems to cocoon and envelop her, heightening the painting's sense of intimacy and sensuality. It is a touching and personal portrayal of the model, and Paul Moorhouse recognises the change in Kossoff's nudes from the 1970s onwards: 'A new tenderness is apparent in the quality of the drawing that caresses the figure, emphasising its nakedness, its angularities, softness, and vulnerability. Kossoff's use of line also divides the image into broad areas of colour - pale flesh, green, blue and sienna - which convey an atmosphere of intimacy and introspection ... The model lapses into moments of unselfconsciousness when something more intimate and unforced is glimpsed. Kossoff's depictions reveal these unguarded moments, vividly recreating an acute, unidealised and physical sense of another's presence' (P. Moorhouse, exhibition catalogue, Leon Kossoff, London, Tate Gallery, 1996, pp. 23-24).
In contrast, Fidelma Resting affords the model a rare moment of stillness, her reclining form filling the width of the composition. The pink-red cushion that Fidelma reclines on seems to cocoon and envelop her, heightening the painting's sense of intimacy and sensuality. It is a touching and personal portrayal of the model, and Paul Moorhouse recognises the change in Kossoff's nudes from the 1970s onwards: 'A new tenderness is apparent in the quality of the drawing that caresses the figure, emphasising its nakedness, its angularities, softness, and vulnerability. Kossoff's use of line also divides the image into broad areas of colour - pale flesh, green, blue and sienna - which convey an atmosphere of intimacy and introspection ... The model lapses into moments of unselfconsciousness when something more intimate and unforced is glimpsed. Kossoff's depictions reveal these unguarded moments, vividly recreating an acute, unidealised and physical sense of another's presence' (P. Moorhouse, exhibition catalogue, Leon Kossoff, London, Tate Gallery, 1996, pp. 23-24).