Joash Woodrow (1927-2006) ''Four Figures in Historical Costume'' Oil on board, 68cm by 76cm Provenance: 108 Fine Art Harrogate, JW310 Artist's Resale Rights/Droit de Suite may apply to this lot, please refer to our Terms of Business See illustration Born in Leeds in 1927 of Polish background, Woodrow initially trained at Leeds College of Art after which he served in the army as a cartographer in Egypt 1945-1948. Between 1950-1953 he studied drawing and painting at the Royal College of Art, his fellow students included Frank Auerbach, Peter Blake and the novelist Len Deighton. Shortly after graduating from The Royal College of Art Joash returned to his home in Chapel Allerton, Leeds where he continued to paint small scale landscapes and portraits. Already well aware of the broad strands of 20th century European Modernism it was the experience of the huge Picasso show at the Tate in 1960 which provided the major catalyst for the extraordinary explosion in scale and ambition that overtook his work over the next fifteen years. This fused with his upbringing in a community created through a mix of English, Jewish and Eastern European culture and the realisation that his expressive roots lay outside the British Isles are what enabled him to find his voice. Philip Vann, Galleries Magazine describes his works as ''Some of the most powerfully original and expressive works of the last decades. Just as Lowry is known as the visual poet of Salford and Eardley similarly of the Gorbals, so Woodrow is now being revealed as the surely unrivalled painter of 20th century Leeds''