Etching on paper
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/leon-kossoff-1436" aria-label="More by Leon Kossoff" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Leon Kossoff</a>
Rape Sabines 1
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
actions: expressive
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
attacking
classical
classical
classical myths: events, themes
crime and punishment
crowd
fine art and design, named works
fleeing
groups
horse
literature and fiction
objects
people
periods and styles
Plutarch, ‘Parallel Lives’
Poussin, Nicolas, painting, ‘Rape of the Sabines’
Poussin, Nicolas, paintings
rape
Rape of the Sabine Women
religion and belief
society
townscape
townscapes / man-made features
woman
<p>This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case <i>The Rape of the Sabines</i>, 1637, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Poussin painting (Tate P11725-6). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. This print was published in an edition of twenty with ten artist’s proofs; Tate owns number three of the artist’s proofs.</p>
paper print etching
The Rape of the Sabines (1)
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
<p>This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case <i>The Rape of the Sabines</i>, 1637, by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Poussin painting (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kossoff-the-rape-of-the-sabines-1-p11725" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11725</span></a>-6). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings.  This print was published in an edition of twenty with ten artist’s proofs; Tate owns number three of the artist’s proofs.
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<br/>The Poussin painting depicts an episode from the early history of ancient Rome. The Romans, unable to obtain wives peacefully, staged a festival and invited the neighbouring Sabines. At a signal from the Emperor Romulus, each violently seized a Sabine woman. Several Romans have drawn their swords; some chase, grab, or hold the women. The Sabines' expressions are anguished. They kick, struggle, and endeavour to escape. Other figures underline the terror of the event. Infants lie abandoned on the bare earth. Two distraught old women kneel in distress. In his interpretation of this incident, Kossoff compressed the scene, eliminating detail and subsidiary action while heightening the role of the central protagonists. It is a painterly etching, where movement is suggested by rhythmic line and modulated tone. The maelstrom of figures in the foreground is contrasted by the linear structures of the buildings behind. A consequence of the printing process is that the image is a reverse of Poussin’s original. Kossoff’s print does not compete with Poussin’s painting, nor does it seek to transcribe, copy or paraphrase it. Rather, it acknowledges the gulf that separates it from the pictorial culture of former times and reveals his desire to find points of contact with Poussin. Kossoff has described the value of this kind of draughtsmanship as a means to building up an acquaintance with the subject of a picture made by another artist until he feels free to ‘move about in its imaginative spaces’ (Kendall, p.19).
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<br/>Kossoff has described the moment of intense elation, which occurred some forty years ago, when he first established a vital connection with Poussin’s art. As a youth and then as a student in London, he had become familiar with the rich historical collections of the National Gallery. One day he had a transformative experience while looking at Poussin’s <i>Cephalus and Aurora</i>, 1629-30 (National Gallery, London):
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<blockquote>It seemed as though I was experiencing the work for the first time. I suppose there is a difference between looking and experiencing. Paintings of this quality, in which the subject is endlessly glowing with luminosity, can, in an unexpected moment, surprise the viewer, revealing unexplored areas of self. </blockquote>
<p align="right">(Kendall, p.19)
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<p>The recent prints made by Kossoff after paintings by Poussin therefore emerge from almost half a century of involvement in the older artist’s oeuvre, initially stimulated by this moment of insight at the National Gallery but more immediately by the 1995 retrospective exhibition, <i>Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665</i>, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
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<br/>The etching plates were prepared by Ann Dowker, a London artist who later collaborated with Kossoff on biting the plates with acid, wiping them before printing, and making trial proofs. In some cases, areas of the etchings were washed with aquatint; in others, lines were emphasised by drypoint. The etchings were printed by Mark Balakjian at Studio Prints, London. 
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Richard Kendall, <i>Drawn to Painting</i>, London 2000, pp.28-9, p.37, reproduced p.55 in colour
<br/>Paul Moorhouse, <i>Leon Kossoff</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1996, pp.27-30
<br/><i>Leon Kossoff: Recent Paintings</i>, exhibition catalogue, British Council, Venice 1995
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<br/>Anna Bright
<br/>September 2005</p>

Summary
2007-01-29T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: expressive adults animals: mammals architecture attacking classical classical classical myths: events, themes crime and punishment crowd fine art and design, named works fleeing groups horse literature and fiction objects people periods and styles Plutarch, ‘Parallel Lives’ Poussin, Nicolas, painting, ‘Rape of the Sabines’ Poussin, Nicolas, paintings rape Rape of the Sabine Women religion and belief society townscape townscapes / man-made features woman