The Family Katz 4 September – 3 October 2026
I first saw Liorah Tchiprout’s work in the Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition. Hers was a medium-sized canvas in the corner of the last room. In the burning glow of a tangerine sky, a woman in a lilac gown leans her head wearily against a flushed, long-haired man, both astride a white horse.
Within the chaotic cluster of artworks and sticky dots, the woman’s half-hidden face and downcast eyes pull me in; there’s a story, a world within the paint, somewhere between a fairytale and an intimate reality. I now know this scene, as with most of Liorah’s works, is painted from dolls and puppets Liorah makes by hand in her London studio.
Liorah Tchiprout | Our steps called out to each other like melancholy birds, 2026 oil on board 103 x 70 cm, 40½x 27½in
Each doll is built upon a wooden mannequin base or metal-wire armature, which is then brought to life with modelling clay and handmade clothes. The figures are based on Liorah and her close circle, but for her upcoming exhibition, Liorah painted directly from her friends, who sat for her, each becoming a member of the Katzes, a fictional Jewish family at their imagined home in Gunnersbury Park, London.
“I think I did over 20 sittings in total, with mostly different sitters,” Liorah tells me. “In the end, the finished body of work was made from both in-person sittings and from my dolls. It’s interesting looking at the finished body of work and seeing those made more from dolls seem more dynamic and alive, whilst the real sitters feel somewhat more rigid and restrained.”
Liorah Tchiprout | Give me a world, for you have taken the world I was, 61 x 76 cm, 24 x 30 in
One of the sitters, a close friend, had recently lost her beloved Pomeranian, Grockle, when she came to the studio for her portrait. Liorah paints Grockle into the image, nestled under her friend Naomi’s protective arm, paws resting on her hip, in Our steps called out to one another like melancholy birds. Naomi, a milliner and “rarely seen without a great hat”, holds the gaze of the viewer in an arresting stare, her eyes beneath a sweep of fringe and shaded by the brim of one of her great hats.
The gaze is as immediate and captivating as Mrs Wertheimer’s unwavering eye contact in John Singer Sargent’s portrait of the prominent 19th-century art dealer’s wife. Painted as part of twelve portraits of the Wertheimer family between 1898 and 1908, Mrs Wertheimer’s pale face, with dark eyes, arched brow and pursed coral lips, is in stark contrast to the gloomy room in which she sits.
“I really love those Sargent paintings. They are totally arresting and confronting, but also so endlessly beautiful. They have always been a huge influence on my work, but this exhibition is an ode to them in many ways,” Liorah explains.
Liorah Tchiprout | Best leave the ideas to me, 61 x 76 cm, 24 x 30 in
There is a tension between the tenderness and opulence of Liorah’s paintings, a layer of sadness, an invisible gauze of fragility quivering beneath the directness of Liorah’s sitters, dressed in glamorous clothes. “If there is violence or dark undercurrents, it’s unseen. It’s a safe world for these characters to exist in,” she explains.
Many of Liorah’s sitters are women, who are allowed the space within the exhibition to be both strong and vulnerable. “I have five sisters, and so I think women-only environments have always fascinated me and made me feel safe, and that’s reflected in the world in my work,” she explains.
Liorah Tchiprout | We named him “Moses”, 2026 oil on panel, 92 x 61 cm, 36¼x 24 in
Often, the underlying fragility of the sitters seems tempered by the dogs that accompany them, like Grockle on Naomi’s lap, or Moses’ long nose resting on his owner’s hands in We named him ‘Moses.’ “I have a whippet, Fango, who is 12; my parents have a retired greyhound, Moses, and a 16-year-old Italian greyhound, Rupert. They all feature heavily in this body of work,” Liorah explains, sharing Lucian Freud’s love of sighthounds, which represent the soundless communication of love and duty between family members.
Bringing together historical representations of the Jewish family across painting and literature and London’s Jewish community today, The Family Katz is an intimate and joyful exploration of relationships and finding joy within pain. “I think that, when you are part of a minority — for example, there are less than 280,000 Jews in the UK — it’s important that you tell your story, because others will try and tell it for you,” Liorah says.
by Sadie Pitcher
The Family Katz is on show at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery from 4 September – 3 October 2026