Building Site Ontologies: Post-war London in the Paintings of Auerbach and Kossoff

Journal article


Johnson-Schlee, S. (2020). Building Site Ontologies: Post-war London in the Paintings of Auerbach and Kossoff. The London Journal. 46 (1), pp. 92-111. https://doi.org/10.1080/03058034.2020.1832364
AuthorsJohnson-Schlee, S.
Abstract

This paper develops an account of post-war London from the building site paintings of Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff. It approaches these paintings as a visceral and embodied source of data regarding the post World War Two landscape of bomb damaged London. It contrasts this form of knowledge with the narratives of memorialisation, and order and control, which I argue characterise post-war reconstruction. In this context the paintings are read as an ontological statement about the complexity and ambiguity of the urban landscape, one which contrasts with historical and contemporary narratives of the urban built environment. The paper posits that knowledgeswhich preserve the complexities and materialities of urban space have the potential to provide political interventions into both historical and contemporary narratives of the city.

KeywordsGeography, Planning and Development; Urban Studies
Year2020
JournalThe London Journal
Journal citation46 (1), pp. 92-111
PublisherInforma UK Limited
ISSN0305-8034
1749-6322
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/03058034.2020.1832364
Publication dates
Online05 Nov 2020
Print02 Jan 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted30 Sep 2020
Deposited30 Sep 2020
Accepted author manuscript
License
File Access Level
Open
Additional information

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The London Journal on available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yldn20

Permalink -

https://openresearch.lsbu.ac.uk/item/8qv62

Download files


Accepted author manuscript
Bombsite paintings paper London Journal Accepted.docx
License: CC BY 4.0
File access level: Open

  • 115
    total views
  • 81
    total downloads
  • 2
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Introduction to the Special Issue on Material Cultures of Reconstruction in post-war London
Johnson-Schlee, S. (2021). Introduction to the Special Issue on Material Cultures of Reconstruction in post-war London. The London Journal. 46 (1), pp. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.1080/03058034.2020.1869430
Living Rooms
Johnson-Schlee, S. (2022). Living Rooms. London Peninsula Press.
The Permanence of Temporary Urbanism: Normalising Precarity in Austerity London
Johnson-Schlee, S. (2022). The Permanence of Temporary Urbanism: Normalising Precarity in Austerity London. The London Journal. 48 (2), pp. 196-198. https://doi.org/10.1080/03058034.2022.2119529
What would Ruth Glass do? London: Aspects of change as a critique of urban epistemologies
Johnson-Schlee, S (2019). What would Ruth Glass do? London: Aspects of change as a critique of urban epistemologies. City. 23 (1), pp. 97-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2019.1575119
Playing cards against the state: precarious lives, conspiracy theories, and the production of ‘irrational’ subjects
Johnson-Schlee, S (2019). Playing cards against the state: precarious lives, conspiracy theories, and the production of ‘irrational’ subjects. Geoforum. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.02.013