John Lessore, painter, was born in London. The son of the art dealer Frederick Lessore and the painter Helen Lessore, he is also a nephew of the artist Walter Sickert, whose work can also be seen in Residence. Their influence on his formative years was important, as he himself acknowledged: "My father came of a family of artists from several generations, and both my parents were good judges of art. The house I lived in as a child was hung with pictures by Sickert and various French painters. Somehow I must have understood, unconsciously, that all these good paintings were composed of arrangements and shapes. And by the time I went to the Slade I already knew that I wanted to paint compositions." Lessore studied at the Slade School from 1956-7, and was glad that he went there "before the tradition of teaching drawing that had been handed down through the centuries was finally severed in the sixties". He was particularly grateful for the tuition received from Sir Thomas Monnington (1902-76) whom he acknowledged as and excellent teacher, draughtsman and painter. Lessore received an Abbey Minor Travelling Scholarship to Italy in 1961, and his first solo exhibition was at the Beaux Arts Gallery in 1965. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy and other London galleries since 1965. His work was included in the Tate Gallery’s Hard-Won Image exhibition in 1984, and his work is represented in collections including the Tate, the Royal Academy and Westminster Hospital, London.
