THIS WEEK’S MUSE
BERYL COOK
“I don’t know how my pictures happen, they just do. They exist, but for the life of me I can’t explain them.”
Beryl Cook was an English artist, famous for her flamboyant and humorous depictions of ordinary life, affectionately rendered in an unmistakable style.
Born in 1926 in Egham, a small village a few miles west of London, Cook had no formal art training and showed no particular interest in painting until one day in 1960. While trying to encourage her ten-year-old son to paint, she found herself wanting to “give it a go.” Her husband bought her a set of oils and she completed her first painting, The Hangover, later that year.
Painting had become a pleasing distraction in 1968, when Cook’s main job was helping run the small family hotel in Plymouth Hoe on the English south coast. It was a vibrant and flourishing sea town, and alongside the traditional flow of holidaymakers were many folks from the edges of society.
And it is these people she painted. Sailors, merchants, travellers – drifting in and passing through with a story to tell or an adventure to enjoy. All on her doorstep, and all painted – gradually added to the walls of the hotel.
Her style is immediately recognizable – colourful and ostentatious depictions of large, often scantily-dressed women with a lust for life, often in the public setting of a pub or café. Expressions are exaggerated, figures animated. And all her character—aside from those occasionally giving looks of disapproval from the periphery—are having a great time.
The unspoke joy in her work is that everything is just a little ‘off center’ from reality. Themes and settlings are all familiar; we recognize the people and we relate to their behavior. As we look at her paintings they lift our spirits as they tell us the story; they’re a snapshot into a world that we long to see more of – ‘What happened next?’ ‘How did this happen?’ ‘What are they doing?’
Her first exhibition was staged locally in 1975. Deciding what was to go in the exhibition was easy – it was everything that hung in the hotel. Representation with the Portal Gallery in London followed, and Cook exhibited there every year until her death in 2008.
Her work is stylistically vibrant, wickedly funny, and beautifully observed. But unusually for such a popular and well-known artist, Cook—her London gallery aside—is rarely exhibited. Seemingly unphased, she recognized this herself. “I know there are some artists who look down on my work,” she said, “and when you compare mine with some of the others, I can see what they’re getting at.”
While the label ‘naïve art’ perhaps does her a disservice, it’s formal definition of “frank simplicity without formal training” competently describes Cook’s work. But such a definition misses the heart of the matter. Her paintings are emotional, engaging, humorous, and—albeit slightly surreally exaggerated—a reflection of real people in real situations. They are all populated by people we know.
Today her work can be found in several national collections but her work, and reputation, remains outside of the established art world. Through her books—thirteen published since 1978—she remains a beloved household name in England.
Artist web site HERE
HAPPENING
COMING UP IN 2023!
WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US for the exciting new program of classes for 2023. From culinary workshops and Makerspace demonstrations to dance nights and art classes. Plus we have a whole heap of concerts – live bands, brilliant musicians, and songs new and old!
There’s something for everyone at the Cultural Center in 2023!