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Between the postwar years and the 1980s in Britain, and in particular in London, a number of figurative painters simultaneously reinvented the way in which life is represented in art. Focusing on the depiction of the human figure, these artists rendered the frailty and vitality of the human condition. Offering a fresh account of developments that have since characterized postwar British painting, this catalogue focuses on Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, R. B. Kitaj, and Leon Kossoff - artists who worked in close proximity as they were developing new forms of realism. If for many years their efforts seemed to clash with dominant tendencies, reassessment in recent decades has afforded their work a central position in a richer and more complex understanding of postwar British art and culture.