Beryl Cook

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Beryl Cook
Born	10 September 1926(1926-09-10) Epsom, Surrey, England
Died	28 May 2008 (aged 81) Plymouth, England
Nationality	British
Field	Painting

Beryl Cook, Tea in the Garden, print, 2003

Beryl Cook, OBE (10 September 1926 — 28 May 2008) was an English artist best known for comical paintings of people. She had no formal training and did not take up painting until middle age.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Eleanor Beryl Cook was born in 1926 at Epsom in Surrey, one of four sisters. She grew up in Reading in Berkshire where she attended Kendrick School, a selective girls' school near the centre of the town. Beryl left school at fourteen, and worked in a variety of jobs. Moving to London in 1943, she became a showgirl in a touring production of The Gypsy Princess. She also worked in the fashion industry.^[1]

In 1946 she married her childhood friend John, who was in the Merchant Navy. When he retired from the sea, they briefly ran a pub. Their son John was born in 1950, and the following year they left to live in Southern Rhodesia. One day she picked up some paints, belonging to her son, and started a picture. She carried on doing so, using various materials, painting on scraps of wood, fire screens and a breadboard. An early painting is Bowling Ladies.

In 1963, the Cooks returned to England to live in Cornwall, where she began to paint seriously. They moved to Plymouth, a port city, where they ran a busy theatrical boarding house in the summer months. They enjoyed going to local bars and watching flamboyant drag acts. She concentrated on painting in the winter months, recreating her personal views of Plymouth in oils on wooden panels. An antique dealer friend persuaded her to let him try and sell a few, and, to her surprise, they sold quickly.

[edit] Artistic achievements

Bernard Samuels of the Plymouth Art Centre became aware of this "local phenomenon",^{[citation needed]} and, in 1975, he convinced her to have an exhibition. The show resulted in a cover feature in the Sunday Times Magazine, followed by her first exhibition in London in 1976 at the Portal Gallery. In 1979, a film was made about Beryl for LWT’s The South Bank Show, where she discussed her work with Melvyn Bragg.

In 1995, she was made an OBE. Her contribution to The Queen’s Golden Jubilee, The Royal Couple featured in the Golden Jubilee Exhibition, May 2002, at Art London, Chelsea.

[edit] Later life

Tiger Aspect made two half-hour animated films of Beryl Cook’s women who meet at Plymouth’s Dolphin Pub. Bosom Pals has a voice cast of Rosemary Leach, Alison Steadman and Timothy Spall. The programmes were broadcast on BBC One in 2004 and won several animation awards. ^[2] Channel 4 News featured a short film of Cook and her work in early 2005, the first in over 20 years. She also appeared in Art School on BBC Two.

In 2006, Portal Gallery held a comprehensive exhibition of Cook’s work to celebrate her 80th birthday. A retrospective exhibition of her work was curated by Peter Doroshenko at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in 2007.

She lived and worked in Plymouth, where she died peacefully in May 2008. Plymouth University will be mounting a major retrospective in November 2008.

[edit] Personality and influences

Cook was a shy and private person, often depicting the flamboyant and extrovert characters she would like to be.^{[citation needed]} She had an almost photographic memory.^{[citation needed]} She found new material for her work while travelling. Early local scenes expanded those depicting Buenos Aires, New York, Cuba, Paris and Barcelona.

Cook admired the work of the English visionary artist Stanley Spencer, his influence evident in her compositions and bold bulky figures. Another influence was Edward Burra, who painted sleazy cafes, nightclubs, gay bars, sailors and prostitutes, although, unlike Burra, she does not paint the sinister aspects of scenes. She was described by Victoria Wood as "Rubens with jokes".^[3]

[edit] Museums

Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art has three paintings by Cook. She is represented in Plymouth City Art Gallery, Durham Art Gallery and Bristol Art Gallery.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 1998 ITV Westcountry video interview with Beryl Cook
• Beryl Cook's fat ladies - video of her work
• Plymouth-based Beryl Cook dies - send your tributes to ITV Local Westcountry
• Short biography from the BBC
• Beryl Cook at the Internet Movie Database
• Article on Beryl Cook in The Guardian
• Painter Beryl Cook dies aged 81, BBC News, 28 May 2008
• Obituary: Telegraph
• Obituary: Guardian
• Obituary: Times
• Obituary: Independent