Art, Beryl Cook

Art Sunday; Dark Art,

Today I have chosen Beryl Cook. I know she is a very unlikely choice for ‘Dark Art’, her paintings are the most innocent and iniquitous you could possibly wish to find. When I saw the theme for today I did a mental check list of all the obvious candidates, Goya, William Hogarth, Hieronymus Bosch, William Blake, I thought about them all. Then I thought that rather than ‘do’ one who is known for producing rather ‘Dark Art’, I would do the one artist who really does unsettle me. Now don’t ask me why this womans art should make me feel so uncomfortable, I have no idea why it makes me feel the way it does……………..It just does, to me this is the ultimate in creepy stuff on canvas!!

World famous British artist Beryl Cook OBE, died earlier this year aged 81. The artist shot to fame in 1979 after a Southbank Show special about her and her unique style of drawing and painting.

She painted ordinary every day events from the clubs and pubs in and around her home town of Plymouth with her jolly portraits of hefty and sometimes naked people at their leisure. In 2004 her characters were animated for a 2 part BBC special, and in 2006 the Portal Gallery in London hosted an 80Th birthday exhibition showcasing some of her most famous work. In 1995 she was presented with an OBE (Order Of The British Empire), and in 2002 was asked to help celebrate the Queens Jubilee by producing 'The Royal Couple'. To moarn the loss of a great artist, Plymouth University will be hosting a retrospective exhibition in November 2008. Whenshe died she passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family. Beryl Cook, 1926 – 2008.

Her paintings sold for $60,000 and over. Jess Wilder, co-owner of London's Portal Gallery, said her record price was $80,000 for Strip Poker, a study of two women and two men in varied stages of undress. In an interview with the International Herald Tribune in 1980, Ms. Cook said she learned to draw from cartoons and was influenced by James Thurber's haphazard style. Her work was spotted at a local exhibition in Plymouth in 1975, and her reputation boomed when one of her images appeared in the Sunday Times the following year.

She is quoted as saying ‘I DON’T KNOW HOW MY PICTURES HAPPEN, THEY JUST DO. THEY EXIST, BUT FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CAN’T EXPLAIN THEM’. Born in 1926 in Surrey, England and one of four sisters, she left school when she was only fourteen at the time, showing little talent for painting and drawing.  Beryl became a showgirl in 1943 after moving to London and joined a touring production of ‘The Gypsy Princess’. She also worked in the fashion industry, which inspired her life-long interest in the way people dress and how they look.

In 1946 Beryl 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.

This move was to prove a turning point for Beryl. One day she picked up some paints belonging to her son and started a picture. She enjoyed it so much she could not stop. She painted on any surface she could find, scraps of wood, fire screens and most notably a breadboard, as can be seen from her famous early painting of Bowling Ladies.

http://www.berylcookusa.com/us/Beryl-Cook-USA/Beryl-Cook/Home/default.aspx

 

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delete reply luckebabe wrote on Jun 8, '08 The first I have seen of her work that I know. Thanks for showing my this type of art. Very interesting. I find myself studying every little aspect of the painting.

delete reply vickiecollins wrote on Jun 8, '08 My theory, if it is worthy of such a term, is that it seems so conventional while at the same time being provocative..a kind of pushing the envelope of what is "normal" or acceptable. The large woman in bra and panties in a nightclub? A mixture of the truely over the top, and conventional. Found it interesting that the artist says "they were there" and she has no explanation. Reminds me of the carver who worked on a piece of wood, until the sculpure within was "freed". http://vickiecollins.multiply.com/journal/item/362

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 8, '08 i think the "unsettling" thing about her work is that it is not over the top it is real with just enough surreal to be unnerving :)

delete reply aimlessjoys wrote on Jun 8, '08 I like the 3rd one--the expressions. Thanks for sharing these!

delete reply philsgal7759 wrote on Jun 8, '08 My guess as to why you don't like them can be found in this video Too much emphasis on women as body parts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1TYZPosoSQ

delete reply ruraldiva wrote on Jun 8, '08 I liked these very much reminds me of Botero. I am so fond of his paintings as well. I don't know why either. It seems her background influenced her work....she saw things a bit differently....humerous. Thanks.

delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Jun 8, '08 I think you did well, after all Goya, Bosch and Hogarth would be the first ones one would think of, I did that too , but then I remembered someone who is darker by contemporary standards and less well known. I know what you mean about Beryl Cook's works, innocent like can be unsettling . Thanks for participating.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 8, '08 I like the Mr Muscle one. At least mature women are the subject of her paintings. Maybe you can find the answer to why not all of your pics can be enlarged in the search box here or ask in one of the support groups. It may have something to do with how you load them.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 8, '08 LOVE these, loretta. THANKS!

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 8, '08 again for some reason you can enlarge some of the pictures and not others, I'm just not at all sure why this is happening, sorry, wish you could see them all a bit bigger