As with his paintings, Kossoff’s etchings are never the work of one moment. Head of Father No. 1 shows at least two layers of etching, the faint underlying skein of lines belonging to an early phase of biting to the plate which was later rubbed down. As James Hyman has noted, there is a close relationship between Kossoff’s drawing, paintings and prints. In this case, Head of Father No. 1 is closely related to Head of Father (1978, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum), an oil painting completed four years previously. Rather than reverse the figure on the plate, however, Kossoff simply worked the outlines of his subject into the plate directly, perhaps because he was working directly from the model. In this respect, the etching closely resembles the artist’s drawings. (Head of Father No. 1 is consequently a mirror image of the related oil painting from 1978.)

Kossoff has worked from the image of his father since the 1950s. It became an especially important subject to him in the 1970s. His 1979 exhibition at Fischer Fine Art, for example, included thirteen drawings and paintings of him. Even after his death, Kossoff continued to use the image of his father, including it in Outside Kilburn Underground Station, for instance – an etching from 1984. The images of his father provide a barometer of stylistic change in Kossoff’s work. A comparison of an early painting, such as Head of Father (1960, collection of Anne and Torquil Norman), with a work from the 1980s, such as Head of Father No. 1, shows a development from post-war apocalyptic visions of the human figure to a firmer, more psychologically attentive investigation of the sitter.