Our colleagues at Haunch of Venison in London have just opened a new exhibition curated by Catherine Lampert that examines 10 important British painters. “The Mystery of Appearance,” which inaugurates their newly remodeled gallery in Haunch of Venison Yard, reminds us of L.A. Louver’s 1979 exhibition – “This Knot of Life.” In that show, we examined the work of David Hockney, Leon Kossoff, Lucien Freud, Euan Uglow and Frank Auerbach, among others, in an early period of their careers.

Now nearly thirty years later, The Mystery of Appearance gives notice to those same artists, as Jackie Wullschlager states:

This is a revelatory historical show that, most importantly, engages with painting as a continuous, living, joyful mystery – turning on, as Bacon asked, “how can appearance be made. I know it can be illustrated, I know it can be photographed. But how can this thing be made so that you catch the mystery of appearance within the mystery of the making?”

Hats off the our friends at Haunch of Venison – we are so pleased that works by David Hockney and Leon Kossoff are being celebrated in this new context.

Explore L.A. Louver’s history in depth at lalouver.com/then

See reviews of The Mystery of Appearance at the Financial Times, Artlyst & London Evening Standard.