visual arts & contemporary crafts Two major exhibitions at HASTINGS CONTEMPORARY from April

SOUTINE|KOSSOFF (1st April to 24th September) pairs two major figures of 20th-century painting: one a master of the School of Paris, the other a master of the School of London.

Soutine | Kossoff is the first ever museum exhibition to explore the artistic relationship between British artist Leon Kossoff (1926-2019) and Belarusborn painter Chaim Soutine (1893-1943).

Undertaken with the full support of the Kossoff estate, it brings together around forty important loans from public and private collections in the UK, USA and beyond. Aside from Soutine Portraits (Courtauld, 2017) at around twenty works, this is the largest group of Soutines shown together in UK since 1982, and the first since then to show both portraits and landscapes, providing a fascinating follow-up to The Barnes Foundation’s 2021 show Soutine / De Kooning.

The discovery of Soutine’s paintings in the early 1950’s was a significant moment for Kossoff, who was already finding his way towards the kind of direct and expressive use of paint he saw in his predecessor’s work.

The main focus of Soutine | Kossoff is on the areas of interest shared by both artists: landscape and portraiture. The exhibition features seminal landscapes painted by Soutine in southern France in the early 1920s and from Kossoff come major paintings of railway junctions, building sites and other scenes of unexpected beauty found in north and northwest London.

A publication will accompany the exhibition, more info can be found at www.hastingscontemporary.org

WE OUT HERE (1st April to 4th June) is a groundbreaking exhibition showcasing the work of six Black artists of Caribbean heritage based in Hastings. WOH artists will be creating new culturally specific artworks and collaborating to produce a distinctive, large-scale, multi-media show. Working in different mediums, the themes they will explore include migration, Black lives in coastal towns, relationships with the sea, climate justice and racial injustice, fast fashion and the Black presence in crafts.

We Out Here will also be complemented offsite with a series of community-based activities and workshops which aim to encourage art engagement. The project is led by local artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown RCA MBE, known as the ‘Banksy’ of the knitting world for her use of the medium for social commentary. For WOH, Lorna will be creating a new ‘WE MEK’ knitted magazine cover – The Windrush 75 Issue.

Lorna says “We Out Here has given me the chance to bring together Hastings-based Black artists who I admire, from a range of disciplines to create a historic exhibition. We have been hidden in plain sight for too long, but WE OUT HERE!”

Visit www.hastingscontemporary.org for further information.