Dec 13

I have been meaning to write about Kossoffs bakery in Kentish Town for a while now and with the war raging in Ukraine it seems like the right time for this particular ‘not-quite-art’ art pilgrimage seeing as it was originally opened by Ukrainian refugees. This is a nostalgic art pilgrimage, but one that ends with an Earl Gray swirl and an appeal to help Ukraine.

Kossoffs is a relatively new bakery opened by Aaron Kossoff who studied baking at Le Cordon Bleu and cut his teeth at The Ivy and Ottolenghi, where he was Head Baker at only 27. The tradition of baking runs deep in the Kossoff family. Aaron’s great grandfather, Wolf, first established Kossoff Bakeries in 1920 in London’s East End. Wolf Kossoff was a Jewish refugee from Kyiv and between 1920 and 1980, opened several bakeries, bringing traditional baked goods to the communities living there. He opened these bakeries with his grandson, David, keeping Jewish traditions alive.

I made the pilgrimage to Kossoffs because of Wolf’s son, Leon Kossoff, one of the most celebrated painters of the previous century, who only recently died in 2019. He was born in 1926 in East London and was evacuated from the city to King’s Lynn during the years of WWII where he was given the taste for art by the family who was looking after him. After serving in the military (he was in the Jewish Brigade), he enrolled in Central Saint Martins and then the Royal College of Art. He was most influenced by artist David Bomberg, whose classes he attended with his close friend, Frank Auerbach. Both Leon and Frank worked in Leon’s grandfather’s bakeries. Leon served bread while Frank sold the cakes.

Children’s Swimming Pool, 11 O’Clock Saturday Morning, August 1969, oil on board, by Leon Kossoff.

Kossoff developed a method of painting utilising impasto to create highly expressive paint surfaces that have a haptic quality. He painted London cityscapes and portraits of his close friends and family and would be included in the Venice Biennale in 1995. A year later, Tate held a retrospective of his life’s work which included many works that Tate owns as part of their permanent collection. The National Gallery followed in 2007 with a show titled Drawing From Painting. He declined any accolades and awards, choosing to focus on his art. On his death, a cherry tree was planted on Arnold Circus, where he grew up, as a memorial to this great painter. Two years later, a sign was erected to mark the location of the tree, just in case you can’t find it.

Aaron doesn’t have any of Leon’s paintings in the bakery and has chosen to limit the association of his family history to the shop’s name. He has created some new, bold-flavored buns and pastries to appeal to modern pallets, such as the kimchee and cheese croissant, which I loved even though I am not a fan of kimchee. It really works! However, I was also delighted that he kept some of the old family recipes, serving up a slice of old London.

This is a story of how refugees have ingrained themselves into British life and have become part of its fabric. Kossoff is a London painter, painting scenes of London’s North and East End and its inhabitants, representing a time when London was recovering from WWII, enriching Britain’s creative and cultural landscape.

The Ukrainians find themselves refugees yet again and I hope we are not on the brink of another world war. My pilgrimage recommendation for this newsletter is to visit Kossoff’s for a taste from the ‘Breadbasket of Europe’ but also in support of the British Red Cross appeal who are doing excellent work helping Ukrainian refugees now.

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Kossoffs
259 Kentish Town Road NW5 2JT
https://www.kossoffs.com/

The Art Pilgrim

FROM THE BREAD BASKET OF EUROPE.