Kitchen Sink Painters: Gritty Realism in Post-War Britain

The history of post-war British painting is often told through its competing movements—abstraction, conceptualism, and performance art—but throughout the 20th century, figurative painters in London remained deeply engaged with human experience, social change, and the materiality of paint.

This blog series explores different strands of figurative painting, from the Kitchen Sink Painters, who depicted the realities of working-class life, to the School of London, known for its psychological intensity and expressive brushwork. These movements intersect with the Borough Group, founded in 1946 by David Bomberg and his students, which emphasized the physicality of paint and the importance of direct observation.

By examining these movements and their relationships to British social history and artistic trends, we aim to uncover the enduring significance of figurative art in the 20th and 21st centuries. Upcoming posts will further explore connections and influences within this tradition.

A Movement of Everyday Life

Key Artists: John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward Middleditch, Jack Smith, Peter Coker
Related Artists: Prunella Clough, Joan Eardley, John Berger, Ruskin Spear

Emerging in the early 1950s, the Kitchen Sink Painters focused on the realities of post-war British life, depicting modest domestic scenes, urban landscapes, and working-class interiors. Their work was deeply rooted in social realism, mirroring the mood of British theatre and literature, such as John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger (1956).

Their paintings were characterized by cluttered compositions, muted palettes, and an emphasis on everyday objects—kitchen sinks, household furniture, and unremarkable urban settings. The movement gained recognition when the artists exhibited together at the 1956 Venice Biennale, supported by Helen Lessore’s Beaux Arts Gallery.

“I just painted the objects around me. I lived in that kind of house… If one had lived in a palace, one might have painted chandeliers.” – Jack Smith

A Political and Critical Reception

While the movement was not strictly ideological, it had ties to Marxist cultural criticism, particularly through John Berger, who championed their focus on working-class life. However, for many of the artists, their work was less about politics and more about painting the truth of everyday experience.

The name Kitchen Sink was coined by critic David Sylvester in a 1954 article for Encounter. Initially intended as a criticism, the term stuck, reflecting the painters' focus on the ordinary and unembellished. Their style had links to Pop Art, Soviet Realism, and post-war existentialist painting, but its momentum faded by the early 1960s as artistic trends shifted.

Experimental Forms: The Role of Texture in Modernist Paintings

Landscape at Greenwich, Dennis Creffield

The artworks of A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection are celebrated not only for their visual composition but also for their tactile qualities. Texture, achieved through thick brushstrokes, knife applications, and innovative use of materials, is central to the emotional resonance and dynamic language of the Borough Group's works. This blog explores the role of texture in modernist painting, highlighting the tools, techniques, and philosophies that shaped these vivid creations.

Thick Brushstrokes and the Spirit of the Mass

David Bomberg, a pivotal figure in the collection, emphasized capturing the "spirit in the mass" rather than merely representing forms. His bold use of thick brushstrokes conveyed a physicality and presence that went beyond the surface. This approach allowed Bomberg to imbue his landscapes and portraits with a sense of vitality, where the paint itself seemed to pulse with energy. Bomberg’s students, including Dorothy Mead and Dennis Creffield, inherited and adapted this philosophy, each finding unique ways to translate mass and movement into their works.

Knife Applications and Sculptural Qualities

Several pieces in the collection demonstrate the use of palette knives to create textured, sculptural effects. Knife applications allowed artists to layer paint in a way that produced sharp contrasts and a sense of depth. The tool's versatility enabled both broad, sweeping motions and precise detailing, resulting in works that invited viewers to not only see but almost feel the art. Dorothy Mead’s self-portraits, for instance, often combine dense, tactile layers of paint with subtle color modulations, creating a striking interplay between light and shadow.

Innovative Materials and Techniques

While traditional oil on canvas dominates, many artists in the Borough Group experimented with unconventional materials and methods. Mixed media works in the collection reveal explorations with impasto—a technique where paint is applied so thickly that it stands out from the surface. The ridges and grooves left by brushes or knives catch the light in unexpected ways, adding dynamism and dimensionality to the compositions. These textural experiments reflect the artists’ desire to push boundaries, both technically and conceptually.

Texture as a Visual Language

Texture in modernist painting goes beyond aesthetics; it functions as a language of its own. In Bomberg’s Mountain and Gorge series, for example, the rugged, layered paint evokes the harshness and grandeur of the landscapes he depicted. Similarly, the tactile surfaces in Mead’s works convey a raw emotional intensity, drawing viewers into an intimate dialogue with the piece. Texture becomes a means of storytelling, where every ridge, groove, and stroke holds meaning.

Dennis Creffield: Bridging the Physical and Spiritual

Dennis Creffield, one of Bomberg’s most dedicated students, brought a unique sensitivity to texture in his works. Known for his monumental charcoal drawings of English cathedrals, Creffield’s paintings often explored the interplay of physical structure and spiritual resonance. His thick, gestural brushstrokes and layered paint convey a sense of both solidity and transcendence, capturing the essence of his subjects with a raw, visceral power. Creffield’s commitment to Bomberg’s principles of mass and form is evident in his textured surfaces, which seem to vibrate with energy and emotion, bridging the physical world with the intangible.

Dennis Creffield: Bridging the Physical and Spiritual

Dennis Creffield, one of Bomberg’s most dedicated students, brought a unique sensitivity to texture in his works. Known for his monumental charcoal drawings of English cathedrals, Creffield’s paintings often explored the interplay of physical structure and spiritual resonance. His thick, gestural brushstrokes and layered paint convey a sense of both solidity and transcendence, capturing the essence of his subjects with a raw, visceral power. Creffield’s commitment to Bomberg’s principles of mass and form is evident in his textured surfaces, which seem to vibrate with energy and emotion, bridging the physical world with the intangible.

Tools of Expression

The artists in the collection used a variety of tools to achieve their textured effects. Beyond brushes and palette knives, some works show evidence of fingers, rags, or even experimental tools like combs and sticks. These tools allowed for a direct, visceral connection between the artist and the medium, emphasizing process as much as product. The physicality of these techniques resonates with Bomberg’s belief in the importance of the artist’s presence within the work.

Reclining Nude. Dorothy Mead

Frank - a Jake Auerbach film

For an insightful look into the life and work of Frank Auerbach, we recommend the film by his son, Jake Auerbach. Known for his tireless dedication to painting and reclusive nature, Frank Auerbach rarely ventures beyond his North London studio. However, when his retrospective opened at Kunstmuseum Bonn in 2015, Jake captured the exhibition on film to share with his father, offering a rare opportunity for Frank to revisit works he hadn’t seen in decades.

The resulting documentary reveals not only the artist's reflections on his oeuvre but also an intimate portrait of a father-son relationship. Interweaving Auerbach’s artistic philosophy, drawing on inspirations ranging from Gauguin to Shakespeare, with candid moments of personal connection, the film provides a compelling window into the mind of one of Britain’s most celebrated painters.

David Bomberg and Frank Auerbach

The recent death of Frank Auerbach marks the passing of one of the greatest painters of our time, whose commitment to his craft was unmatched. Yet, to fully appreciate Auerbach’s extraordinary achievements, we must turn to his early mentor, David Bomberg. A pioneering modernist, Bomberg not only shaped British art but influenced the course of Auerbach’s career. Their intertwined legacies speak to the transformative power of teaching and the enduring impact of creative mentorship.

David Bomberg: The Radical Innovator

David Bomberg (1890–1957), born into a working-class Polish-Jewish immigrant family in Birmingham, rose to prominence as a revolutionary voice in early 20th-century art. Works like The Mud Bath (1914) and In the Hold (1913–14) showcased his interest in the fragmented forms of Cubism and Futurism. But Bomberg’s artistic vision was never static. His experiences during World War I, where he served as a soldier and later as an official war artist, prompted a dramatic shift toward a more humanistic, emotionally charged approach to painting.

While his contemporaries gained recognition, Bomberg struggled for institutional support. This marginalization led him to focus on teaching, which became a central part of his legacy. Bomberg’s classes at the Borough Polytechnic (now London South Bank University) in the late 1940s and early 1950s became a crucible of creativity, attracting students like Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff, who would later define post-war British painting.

The Teacher and the Student

For Auerbach, Bomberg was more than a teacher—he was a philosophical guide who fundamentally altered his approach to painting. Auerbach, a refugee from Nazi Germany, arrived in Bomberg’s class at the Borough Polytechnic in 1947, a young artist grappling with the enormity of his displacement.

Bomberg’s teaching emphasized “the spirit in the mass”—a belief that the painter’s role was not to reproduce appearances but to engage deeply with the subject’s essence. This approach resonated with Auerbach, whose work would come to embody this same intensity. Bomberg urged his students to search relentlessly for truth in their work, to trust their instincts, and to accept failure as a vital part of artistic growth.

Auerbach absorbed Bomberg’s ethos of relentless experimentation, working and reworking his paintings over months—even years—until they captured the essence of his subject. This rigor became the defining hallmark of Auerbach’s career.

Bomberg’s Teaching Legacy

Bomberg’s classes were unconventional, rejecting rigid academic methods. Instead, he fostered an environment of creative exploration. He encouraged students to look beyond surface appearances, to immerse themselves in the emotional and physical reality of their subjects.

Bomberg’s insistence on the relationship between the artist and the material world was revolutionary. He viewed painting as a dialogue between the artist and the subject, one that required complete immersion and honesty. This approach transformed Auerbach’s understanding of painting, laying the foundation for his intense, tactile engagement with the medium.

Auerbach’s thickly layered canvases, capturing the streets of Camden or the faces of friends, embodied and extended some of the principles Bomberg instilled in him. The act of painting, for Auerbach, does engage with Bomberg’s concept of the “spirit in the mass”—a struggle to capture the essence of his subjects through relentless observation and revision.

Auerbach eclipsed Bomberg in public recognition, he never forgot his teacher’s impact. Bomberg’s vision, rooted in the search for truth and the emotional power of form, was a constant presence in Auerbach’s work.

The relationship between David Bomberg and Frank Auerbach exemplifies the profound, lasting impact a teacher can have on an artist’s life. Bomberg’s lessons—about searching, feeling, and daring to fail—shaped Auerbach’s art, while Auerbach’s success brought renewed attention to Bomberg’s work, ensuring his place in the history of British art.

With Auerbach passing, we celebrate not only his remarkable career but also the creative dialogue that began in Bomberg’s classroom. Together, they remind us that the most meaningful art is born not in isolation but through shared ideas and explorations of the medium.

Report by HM Inspectors on the Borough Polytechnic 1947 Bomberg at the Borough Road

Report by HM Inspectors on the Borough Polytechnic 1947 

P30-31, on the Art Department 

(ii) Composition 

The teacher is a painter of wide experience who has developed a very personal style in his own work. 

The Composition class takes place on two mornings each week in the Life room and is attended by both full-time and part-time students. The room is badly lit and there is hardly adequate accommodation for the full number of students working on large-scale pictures. 

The subject of each student’s work is carefully related to his interested and potentialities, and the students are then encouraged to develop their ideas in a direct and spontaneous manner concentrating from the beginning on the main construction of their pictures and evolving of forms expressive of the particular theme. Sketches are enlarged and revised in a number of stages until the final work is carried out, usually on a large scale. 

By means of considerable personal effort the teacher has been able to give confidence to his students and to maintain a high level of interest in the work. Although the majority of students have had little previous experience, their work shows a remarkable imaginative intensity and feeling for design. Most of them have at present small ability as draughtsmen and much of their work is characterised by a certain vagueness of form. 

The ultimate value of these rather unorthodox teaching methods will depend very much on whether the students can bring a strong personal perception of nature to the technical understanding of picture making they are now acquiring and thus avoid mannerism. 

(iii) Life Drawing. A Life Drawing class is taken by the same teacher on one afternoon during the week. It is attended by full-time and part-time students, and, as the number has grown too large for the size of the Life room, the Head of Department proposes to split the class. 

The approach to Life Drawing is related to the methods used in the Composition class. The teacher rightly insists on an atmosphere of concentration being maintained in the Life room and he aims at making the student regard each drawing as a creative exercise rather than a piece of passive copying. Many of the drawings in the Students’ folios had been done using charcoal or chalk in a broad sweeping manner which brought out the beauty of the material and gave an attractive suggestion of the main forms and movement of the figure. This method has enabled students of little experience to acquire rapidly a means of expression. If, however, the student came to rely too much on one approach, there is a danger of their developing an empty facility rather than a sound conception of drawing, and it was felt that these drawings should be supported by studies of a more detailed nature. 

The Tuesday and Thursday evening classes are attend mostly by part-time students and the instruction is given on orthodox professional lines. Most of the students are amateur draughtsmen who apparently make no use of their drawing either for producing pictures or for any other purpose. Life Drawing is best studied as a means to some end and it would be valuable if the Sketch Club that formerly used to run in the school could be revived so that these students could be encouraged to produce work for its competitions and put their drawing to some use 

Dorothy Mead and Edna Mann by Dr Nicola Baird

Text by curator and researcher Dr Nicola Baird for the exhibition ‘The line is an unreal thing’: Dorothy Mead and Edna Mann that opens January 19th, 2024.

Dorothy Mead (1928-1975)

Born in London in 1928 Dorothy Mead attended the South-East Technical College and Dagenham School of Art where she first encountered artist-teacher David Bomberg. Despite having lodged a formal protest against his approach – ‘I was 16 years at the time and understood little’ – Mead was subsequently won over, following Bomberg to the City Literary Institute and, in 1945, to the Borough Polytechnic, now London South Bank University. In 1946 Mead became a founder member of the Borough Group, formed, in the artist’s own words, to ‘further the aims of David Bomberg and to establish his students as professional painters’. She exhibited alongside its other members including Dennis Creffield and Cliff Holden, with whom she had an 11-year relationship, until the group disbanded in 1951.

In 1956 Mead enrolled as a mature student at the Slade School of Art where she continued to flourish, influencing younger artists, including Mario Dubsky, and becoming president of Young Contemporaries (1958-59). And yet, despite winning the Steer Medal for Landscape Painting and a Prize for Figure Painting, Mead was forced to leave without a degree, her failure to sit the perspective exam compounded by Professor Coldstream’s refusal to accept a thesis in which she had stated her belief in ‘the scientific method’ as ‘alien to me in my work as a painter’. Key to understanding the nature of Mead’s audacity and originality as an artist is a statement made in a letter to Andrew Forge: ‘It seems that I do not toe the line. I recognise no line. I accept only myself. The line is an unreal thing to me, and the gamble on myself has to be made, not just in energy and work, but in self-belief.’

Mead was an exceptionally dedicated artist of ‘monumental intention’, and ‘deep feeling’ whose paintings possessed ‘inner thrust and structural density’. And yet, unable to secure a permanent teaching position she struggled to sustain herself financially combining intermittent employment at Goldsmiths, Chelsea School of Art and Morley College with casual jobs including as a cartoon animator for Halas & Bachelor, a West End theatrical costume designer, and a waitress at Lyons Corner House.

Although included in the 1964 Arts Council exhibition, 6 Young Painters along with David Hockney, Peter Blake and Bridget Riley, an active member of the London Group since 1960 and its first female president, Mead was never given the opportunity of a solo show. For Holden, ‘Dorothy had courage, stuck to her principals … She … never sought to turn her work into a saleable commodity’ and yet she did once confide, half-jokingly to her younger sister Val that ‘she would change her name to George – our Dad’s name – giving her much more chance of being recognised as a painter’.

Indeed, Mead has not yet achieved the level of recognition she rightfully deserves, while her role as mentor to her one-time lecturer and married long-term lover Andrew Forge remains largely unacknowledged. For Mead their tempestuous relationship was at once, ‘the most wonderful thing’.

that has ever happened to me’ and the source of much hurt and distress. Although ‘a very abundant, very positive person’, Mead tragically attempted suicide on more than one occasion, resulting in periods of rehabilitation in Springfield University and Maudsley Hospitals. Mead died in 1975 at the age of 46 from a brain tumour.

Edna Mann (1926-1985)

Born in East London in 1926, Edna Mann was an artist, teacher and mother described by her siblings as a ‘brave’, ‘vivacious’ ‘lifeforce’. First educated at Romford County High School for Girls, Mann went on to study at the South-East Technical College and Dagenham School of Art where she encountered artist-teacher David Bomberg. Mann was one of the few female artists to attend Bomberg’s classes and, like Dorothy Mead, though initially sceptical, in 1944 she followed him to the City Literary Institute and subsequently to the Borough Polytechnic, now London South Bank University. Works executed while under Bomberg’s tutelage include charcoal renderings of the exterior of Westminster Abbey, the interior of St Paul’s Cathedral and Cityscape, likely drawn from the roof of the Borough Road building.

United in their appreciation of Bomberg, Mann, along with fellow pupils Mead, Cliff Holden and Miles Richmond founded an exhibiting society known as the Borough Group (1946-51). Prior to the group’s formation Mann had accepted a scholarship to study book illustration at the Royal College of Art, choosing to leave after a year because of her tutors’ trenchant opposition to Bomberg’s influence, a decision which seemed to those around her all the more controversial when having become pregnant, she was encouraged to leave the group as Bomberg did not believe that it was possible to be both an artist and a mother.

Mann would go on to raise three children, combining motherhood with both artmaking and teaching. Transitioning out of what husband Don Baldwin referred to as her “mud plum” period, between the late 1940s and 1960s, Mann began increasingly to embrace abstraction and the use of vivid colour. Moving during this time between Forest Hill, Romford, Leightonstone and Woodford, Mann also taught art at Lucton County Secondary Modern School in Debton near Loughton before gaining employment at Burnt Mill School in Harlow (1962-1978).

In 1965 Mann’s work was included in The Harlow Arts Festival, the same year in which she had her first solo show of paintings, drawings and prints at the Drian Galleries in London, founded by Lithuanian émigré Halima Nalecz. Also in 1965, having begun, from the late 1950s onwards to experiment with imaginative and observational writing, Mann succeeded in having a play – entitled The Leavers written with Frank Hitchcock and including Nigel Graham and Anthony Hall – broadcast by the BBC. Although she is well-represented in the Sarah Rose Collection, it is incredibly rare to see examples of Mann’s work on display elsewhere.

Art Unlocked: A David Bomberg Legacy: the Sarah Rose Collection

This talk provides an introduction to A David Bomberg Legacy: the Sarah Rose Collection. It was prepared and delivered by Curator (maternity cover) Emily Fuggle on 15 March 2023, for Art Unlocked, a series of events exploring UK museum and gallery collections, sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

In this video, Emily introduces six key artworks from the collection to explain how the artist David Bomberg inspired a new generation of painters as a teacher at the Borough Polytechnic (London South Bank University) in the 1940s and 1950s.

This talk is also accompanied by an Art UK Curation

The Representation of Women in Art

The Representation of Women in Art by Laney Gibbons

Art is, and always has been, a way for individuals to express themselves, and allow others to experience the magic. Before the generations of phones and social media, artwork was one of the few forms of entertainment that we had, and along the way, art has captured some of the most beautiful and heartbreaking events in history. 

Now, in the 21st century, we have more variations of artforms than ever before, yet if you ask any young individual to name a famous artist - 9 times out of 10 they will succeed, because that is how impactful art is. However, research shows that the top three most well-known artists are all male - Picasso, Van Gogh, and Da Vinci. And while this could just be a sign of the times, even the more contemporary groups of artists are overshadowed by the likes of Andy Warhol. 

This is why it is so important for new, younger generations to open up conversations about women in art and the work they created. I have always been intrigued by self-portraits and the stories that they tell, as they evoke such emotion both from the creator and the consumer. 

One of the most mesmerising pieces of art I have ever discovered is Ana Mendieta’s Untitled (Self-Portrait With Blood). On the surface, the artwork is extremely interesting, drawing the spectator in, wanting to learn more - searching for a deeper meaning. However, if you read more into Ana Mendieta’s life and upbringing, the artwork begins to make more sense. Growing up in Havana, Ana was born into a middle-class family of politicians. This would suddenly be cut short, though. At the age of just 12, Ana, along with her sister, was sent to the United States, where they were regularly moved from one foster home to another - which subsequently led to these emotions shining through within her later works. Unfortunately, Ana had quite an eventful life from birth, all the way up to her death in 1985. Ana passed away in early September of 1985, aged just 36, after falling from the window of the 34th-floor apartment that she shared with her husband, Carl Andre, in Greenwich Village, NYC. In fact, it was speculated that Ana’s husband - Carl - was responsible for her death, but he was later acquitted of all charges.

And while fans of Ana Mendieta and her work fight hard for her legacy, for her to be remembered for her talents, and not her death, it is quite bittersweet that she lived out the rest of her life in the United States. People believe that Ana Mendieta always felt a strong disconnect from the USA, which would be understandable due to her being sent there after being separated from her family. This sense of not-belonging and disconnect really shines through in some of Ana Mendieta’s work, with strong themes of landscape, nature, and the female body, which brings me onto her piece, Untitled (Self-Portrait With Blood). 

Untitled (Self-Portrait With Blood) is an extremely bold piece of art. It is raw, emotional, and strong. The piece features a close-up shot of Mendieta herself, as she makes direct eye contact with the camera, as blood drips down her face. This isn’t the first, or last, piece of Mendieta’s work to feature blood - which led Art Historians to theorise that this could be in reference to Santeria - the Cuban religion. This directly links the emotions of Mendieta’s sense of belonging, and the way she felt towards her native country, after being taken away from her home at such a young age. When discussing this theory in a  1981 artist statement, Mendieta explained that “I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body (based on my own silhouette). I believe this has been a direct result of having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (nature). My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe. It is to return to the maternal source”. 

One thing I picked up on from Mendieta’s Untitled (Self-Portrait With Blood) is the fact that her face was obstructed by the blood, which reminded me of Dorothy Mead’s self-portrait from 1973, in which she is also faceless/obstructed. The piece is an oil painting of a nude Mead, with obstructed facial features. The piece is strikingly beautiful and captures a sense of of beauty and vulnerability. 

Dorothy Mead was part of the Borough Group . Mead was a talented artist but struggled to get the recognition her male peers received. Like other powerful women who are not afraid to follow their own path, Dorothy Mead was met with criticism and stereotypes for her work. For instance, critic David Sylvester singled Mead out, stating that she “tends to affirm the supremacy of light, as women’s painting often does”.  The lease of viewing work is restrictive and has lead to the erasure and pleasure of seeing more work by female artists.

Ana Mendieta and Dorothy Mead paved the way for aspiring women artists, and I am sure they will continue to do so for many generations. Their pieces are timeless, they capture so much strength and emotion, and I know I speak on behalf of numerous art-lovers when I say that we are proud of the women we have to look up to and thank them for the fight that they fought for younger generations.