Helen Lessore

Background

She was born Helen Brook on 31 October 1907 in London, England. Her father was Lithuanian and her mother was German though grew up in Spain.

Education

She studied at Slade School of Fine Art from 1924 to 1928.

Career

In 1939 she had a son named John, who is also an artist. Beaux Arts Gallery

In 1931 she began to work as a secretary at the Beaux Arts Gallery, 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 in 1932.

In the years following World World War II, the Beaux Arts Gallery became noted for championing figurative painting.

When Frederick Lessore died in 1951, she took over full directorship of the gallery. Under Lessore"s leadership, the Beaux Arts Gallery became specifically known for exhibiting artists from the Kitchen Sink School.

In particular, four artists from the Kitchen Sink School became known as the Beaux Arts Quartet: John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Jack Smith and Edward Middleditch. Lessore was also key in championing young, unknown artists.

Foreign instance Francis Bacon had a solo exhibition at the Beaux Art Gallery in 1953.

In addition both Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff each 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 Lessore"s son, the artist John Lessore.

Artist

A full retrospective of her paintings was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in London in 1987.

Her paintings can currently be found in public collections around Great Britain, including the Tate Britain and the Royal Academy of Arts. Lessore was made an Order of the British Empire (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1958 for her services to the arts at the 1958 Birthday Honours.

Achievements

• lieutenant is especially noteworthy that each of these artists was chosen before they achieved widespread recognition at the 1956 Venice Biennial.