Multiple Selves

 

 

A youthful Jan Morris

This blog looks at the life of Catharine Jan Morris, born James Humphry Morris, [2^nd Oct 1926 to 20^th November 2020]. She had an extraordinary life, and her public description as a Welsh historian, author and travel writer, seems somewhat underwhelming! Her best-known work was the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, published between 1968 and 1978, and her portraits of cities such as Venice, Oxford, Trieste, Hong Kong and New York City, were highly praised. Her Last Letters from Hav was a Booker Prize short-listed novel in 1985. She published under her birth name, James, until 1972 when she had gender reassignment surgery after transitioning from male to female.

An even more youthful James.

As James, he was a member of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition led by Colonel John Hunt and including Edmund Hillary which achieved the first ever confirmed ascent of the mountain. He was the only journalist to accompany that expedition, impressively climbing with the team to a camp at 22,000 feet where he used a pre-arranged code to send news of their successful ascent. His coded message, “Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement.” reached The Times by coincidence, on the morning of the coronation of Elizabeth 11. It was quite an achievement to get the news of the 29 May ascent to London by Coronation Day on 2 June as it had to be sent by runner to Namche Bazaar en route! And a further triumph to combine the two disparate events in such eye-catching synchronicity. The global publicity from these two monumental events was enormous and the name of James Morris became famous. Publishers begged him to write more books and when The Times repeatedly refused him permission to do so, he eventually left the paper.

The boy, James, during the Everest triumph, 1953.

Morris was born in Clevedon, Somerset, the youngest of the three children of Walter Henry Morris, (died 1938), an engineer from Monmouth in Wales who never fully recovered from being gassed in WW1. Her mother, nee Enid Payne, was an English church organist who trained as a concert pianist at the Leipzig Conservatoire and became a well-known recitalist in the early days of broadcasting in south Wales and the west of England. Jan Morris’s elder brothers, Gareth and Christopher, both achieved distinction, as a flautist, (Gareth) and as an organist and music publisher for the Oxford University Press, (Christopher). James had been a member of the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, while boarding at Christ Church Cathedral School then went on to study at Lancing College before returning to Christ Church, Oxford, as an undergraduate, taking a second-class honours BA in 1951 which was promoted to the customary Oxford MA in 1961. While at Lancing, he made a start in Journalism reporting for the Western Daily Press; and during his time at Oxford, contributed to Cherwell, the university student newspaper.

Morris initially, hoped to join the Royal Navy but was prevented because of colour blindness, instead joining a Cavalry regiment during the closing stages of WW2, and being posted to the Free Territory of Trieste in 1945, during the British -American occupation. He eventually went on to serve as a Regimental Intelligence Officer. At 21, he left the army, enrolled on an Arabic course in London, found a reporting job in Cairo and while there proposed marriage to Elizabeth Tuckniss whom he had met in a London boarding house. As they settled into wedded bliss, Morris won a place in Oxford which eventually led to a reporting job with The Times..The editor who signed him up, said, "He is quite out of the run of normal candidates."  and Morris took the opportunity to return to Cairo as the Times correspondent. While there, he became friends with Peregrine Worsthorne who wrote that, " At no point was James ever one of the boys." He wrote for years for The Times which august publication published his original Mount Everest/Coronation Day scoop though he managed to land other journalistic firsts too leading to an impressive career and life. Reporting on the Suez Crisis for the Manchester Guardian in 1956, he produced the first ‘irrefutable proof’ of collusion between France and Israel in the invasion of Egyptian territory, interviewing French Air Force pilots who confirmed that they had been in action in support of Israeli forces. He also reported on the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem and later, publicly opposed the Falklands War.

James with wife, Elisabetth, and young family

But chiefly, it was the personal life of James Morris which aroused public interest. In 1949 he married Elizabeth, daughter of a Ceylon tea planter, Austen Cecil Tuckniss and they had five children, including the poet/musician, Twm Morys; one child died in infancy. Morris's children regarded her/him as an aloof and unhelpful parent and looked back on their upbringing with anger. The family lived in the village of  Llanystumdwy in North Wales for over 50 years until Morris’s death in November 2020. He began transitioning to live as a woman in 1964 and travelled to Morocco in 1972 to undergo gender-affirming surgery performed by Georges Burou when doctors in England refused such treatment unless Morris divorced his wife, [the former Elizabeth Tuckniss] something he refused to do. They did divorce later but remained together and on May 14th 2008 were legally reunited when they formally entered a civil partnership. Jan detailed her transition in Conundrum in 1974, her first book under her other name, Jan Morris. Both feminists and her publishers, were dismayed by Conundrum in which she wrote, "the urge to change sex has been the most compelling instinct of my life" though she added, "it was not important."

Morris died on November 20th, 2020 in Bryn Beryl Hospital in Pwllheli in North Wales at the age of 94, survived by Elizabeth and their four children. Elizabeth died at 99 on June 17th, 2024. After Jan's death, the Guardian opined that she had been an outrageously successful journalist and travel writer, adding that, however, the greatest distance travelled by Jan Morris was not across the Earth's surface, but between extraordinary identities: from being the golden boy newspaper reporter, James, to the 

Jan Morris at 93.

transgender historian and explorer, Jan.  

Awards

Despite being born and chiefly raised in England, Morris always identified as Welsh so that it seems appropriate that she received early honorary doctorates from the University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan. She was also an honorary fellow of Christ Church, Oxford and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She was elected to the Gorsedd Cymru in 1992 and received the Glyndwr Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales in 1996. After some mature consideration, for Morris was a Welsh Nationalist at heart, she accepted her appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours List for services to literature. In 2005 she was awarded the Golden Pen Award by English Pen, for a "Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature." In January 2008, The Times named her the 15th greatest British writer since WW2. She has also featured in the Pinc List of leading Welsh LGBT figures in 2017 and in 2018 won the Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing Award. Hers was an extraordinary and fascinating life, well lived! Before she died, she spoke of her 1970s transition and the love of her wife [Elizabeth] which had never wavered. " I was born a man but only achieved serenity as a woman."

James Morris congratulates Edmund Hillary as he returns from his successful attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

From James to Jan.
As a soldier, his fellow officers felt he was "rather better-looking
than any young man is entitled to be." 

 

Blue and White Porcelain

Chinese junk of yesteryear

Qing Republic Five Fish bowl.

 A 14^th century shipwreck, the ‘Temasek Wreck’, was discovered in shallow, but dangerous, waters in the eastern entrance to the Singapore Strait and excavated intermittently between 2016 and 2019. The marine archaeologists who located the site took four years to sift through the remains for, despite the shallowness of the water, there were strong currents and shocking visibility. The ship, probably a Chinese junk of the type widely used in the Middle Ages, had completely vanished in the intervening centuries, but the remains of its cargo of porcelain and stoneware were there in the form of 3.5 tonnes of chiefly shards though some intact examples were also discovered. Stoneware bowls and storage jars formed most of the cargo, but, impressive to see now, is the extensive repertoire of rare Yuan dynasty blue and white porcelain, more than has ever been discovered from a documented wreck before. A record haul indeed. The recovered blue and white weighed approximately 136 kg and comprised over 2350 shards plus a 

Yang Dynasty four gourd bottle.

few intact vessels. Archaeologists concluded that the cargo had included fourteen differently shaped vessels of which the majority had been bowls closely followed by vases and then jars. They also eventually decided that there had been over 300 blue and white bowls of varying sizes on board, and the evidence suggests that the quality of the ceramics was, in many cases, superlative. It is concluded that the junk, loaded in Quanzhou in the mid-fourteenth century, was bound for the thriving duty-free commercial hub of Temasek (early Singapore). Historians suggest that the shipwreck hints at the extent of local consumption and demonstrates the wealth of the settlement. Unlike sites that have accumulated items over time, because the shipment can be dated so closely, it provides a reliable reference for identifying similar Yuan dynasty wares, found elsewhere without a clear archaeological context.

Mandarin ducks in a lotus pool.
Very early bottle, probably 14th century. 

The small number of intact objects enabled archaeologists to identify from the ornate designs, the identity of the intended owner and even the date of the shipwreck. One of the designs featured a four-clawed dragon; another depicted a phoenix surrounded by a band of chrysanthemums. One design recurred frequently; mandarin ducks in a lotus pond and this had been the signature motif of Emperor Wenzong who restricted it to his personal use during his reign from 1328 to 1332. This restriction almost certainly ceased soon after he was deposed though commercial kilns probably continued to produce many more ceramics featuring this motif for some time, intended for export and not the home market. The Imperial kilns were shut down around 20 years later when a peasant rebellion movement, the Red Turbans, arose, which further narrows the period in which the ship could have sunk. Even if some kilns had continued producing ceramics, the Yuan Dynasty nonetheless, fell in 1368 and the first Ming Emperor                                                                                    who followed, banned commercial trade around 1371 

During the time that Yuan porcelain was produced, it became coveted by the wealthy elites across Eurasia, only a little less prized than gold, calligraphy or exemplary architecture, but as ceramics, it had a translucency and hardness which seemed almost miraculous to the cognoscenti.  Professor Shane McCausland of SOAS University of London [School

    Flower vase pattern, 1638.

of Oriental and African Studies] says, “There’s even a belief that Yuan blue and white had magical properties so that if you put poison on it, it would crack……. That partly explains why paranoid rulers did like to have a bit of blue and white around.” Yuan pottery also illustrates the extent of the trade networks which existed at the time. Made by Chinese craftsmen, utilizing cobalt originating in Persia [modern Iran] before being exported along the maritime silk routes dominated by the Mongols. Prof. McCausland suggests that Yuan porcelain represented a major technological breakthrough in Chinese art under Mongol rule. As soon as the Mongols retreated from China in 1368, the knowledge of that breakthrough gradually faded and was eventually lost.  As late as the 1930s, scholars would misidentify blue and white porcelain as produced by other dynasties. It was said, “What could the Mongols have had to do with this? They pillaged, they raped, they destroyed.”  

Blue and white porcelain is the most splendid variety in the history of Chinese ceramics. Its charm lies in the pure white body, vibrant blue colour, (cobalt), various patterns and decorations and exquisite craftsmanship. Those examples that have been passed down as heirlooms through generations, also reflect the social cultures of different eras. Not only has Blue and White become a treasure of traditional Chinese culture, but it also occupies an important position in world art.    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

  

The Book of Kells

 

The Book of Kells

Lavishly decorated frontispiece of the Book of Kells.

I have just returned from a brief trip with family to Dublin, a city unknown to me, and subsequently, a delight to discover. My view of Dublin was heavily influenced by the quality of the museums which I experienced there and one, EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum, particularly impressed me. Just being there, meant I was constantly reminded of the charm of the Irish, evident in so many day-to-day transactions and encounters and the EPIC displays recount the Irish narrative in such innovative ways. Obviously, I quickly became aware that my museum-visit practice was seriously outdated; there were no serried ranks of silent display cases and endless, difficult-to-read labels too tiny to bother with. Instead, there was colour and movement; videos and informative voice-overs which rendered my inexperience and hesitation irrelevant!       

My favourite EPIC item was the miraculous Book of Kells, both the sublime creation itself, and the story of its historical journey.  Exploring its timeline is to uncover centuries of artistry, intrigue and

Ornate decorated introduction to the 
Gospel of John.

cultural heritage.  It was created around 800 A.D. in a monastery on the Island of Iona off the Scottish coast. That area, and particularly the monastery, suffered a series of Viking attacks which brought death and destruction to the monks with the attendant fear of the destruction or disappearance of what was the emerging Book of Kells, so the surviving monks took their treasures and fled to Kells, in County Meath in Ireland. The compilation of the nascent Book of Kells, begun in Iona, continued and may have been completed there though there is no written reference to its existence until 1007 in the Annals of Ulster describing it as “the great Gospel of Colum Cille” and recording that the manuscript had previously been stolen, disappearing “after two months and twenty nights.”  Its accidental discovery from burial in the ground was a huge relief even though its binding, and the leaves at the front and back, were missing. In 521or 522, Colum Cille had been born into the ruling dynasty of present- day Donegal. Around 561 he travelled to Dal Riata in Scotland, finally settling in 563 on Iona, a fertile island off Mull. The subsequent community there grew to be the prosperous head of a confederation of monastic houses with Lindisfarne its most prominent foundation.

Symbols of the four Evangelists:
Top left to right:
Matthew, angel; Mark, lion;
eagle, John; ox, Luke.

 There is scant information on the Book after the early eleventh century and it is presumed that this early version continued its peaceful existence in the monastery in Kells. Interesting however, is to consider the original concept which flowered into the beautiful Kells project. Was it conceived as a unitary object originally and did the idea of producing a stunning manuscript continue throughout the upheavals, wars, violence and urgent re-locations? It is concluded by experts that numerous scribes and artists may have worked on the Book at various times, and the current assumption is that there was no apparent co-ordination or overall collaboration between scribes. The current official written guide to The Book of Kells however attributes its identity and status to the fact that it was assembled on Kells by one particular scribe identified as Scribe B. However, the impressive centre narrative of the Book of Kells is John’s Gospel which may well have come complete as now presented, from Iona, perhaps intended to be a single, stand-alone manuscript, as the Irish Church had a particular reverence for John. The manuscript includes a magnificent portrait of John, and the conservative style of the script clearly suggests it is the work of a single scribe, designated A. It seems likely that Scribe B had the assembled core texts before him and then he completed sections, supplied necessary additions and numerous decorative details in an attempt to provide overall coherence.

Chi Rho monogram.
The first two letters of Christ, in Greek.

In 1211 the Book of Kells was brought into the newly-formed diocese of Meath, the monastic church also functioning as the parish church and considered a safe haven vis-à-vis the treasured manuscript, In 1641 there was an Irish rebellion against the Protestant settlers during which upheaval, the town, including the church, of Kells suffered severe damage, the church subsequently fit only for the stabling of horses. The safety of the manuscript being endangered with Cromwell's cavalry quartered in the church nearby, the manuscript was sent to Dublin around 1653 by the Governor of Kells, Charles Lambart, 1^st Earl of Cavan and soon after, Henry Jones, Bishop of Meath, (1661-1682) presented it to Trinity College where it remains today, a treasured archive. Trinity College had been established by Queen Elizabeth 1in 1592 and was thus Ireland's oldest university.

The manuscript was rebound in 1742, and again in early 1826 by George Mullen who received the sum of £22.15 “for repairing Columb Kills manuscript.” Unfortunately, Mullen’s repair was later deplored as ‘vandalism’, especially his trimming of the leaves. In 1895 the manuscript was again rebound, this time by Galwey of Eustace Street, Dublin. The present binding was carried out in 1953 by Roger Powell; he flattened the leaves through careful hydration and tensioning and divided the Book into four volumes, one for each of the Gospels. There are minor additions to the text such as a poem complaining about the taxation of church land, added in the 15th century; copious signatures and annotations added by Gerald Plunkett of Dublin in the 16th century, including  disfiguring transcriptions of texts; and the signatures of Queen Victoria and Albert on the occasion of their visit on 7th August 1849.  The mediaeval Latin of the Book of Kells does not make for easy reading! There are no letters j, v, and k. And spelling is erratic with letters interchanged such as y and I; ae and e; m and n; b and p. Double consonants are common such as double ss where one is needed or double tt similarly.

Madonna and child.
The oldest image of Mary in Western manuscripts.

This blog is a minor introduction to the Book of Kells and the reader should search out the official guide which is packed with full and relevant information and illustration and produced by scholars and artists with long experience of this extraordinary mediaeval manuscript. Begun when almost no ordinary person could read or write but when everyone looked to churches and illustrated religious texts for inspiration, information and artistic beauty, the Book of Kells can boast stunning imagery, vivid colouring and expressive intensity. It is a jewel which inspires as a symbol of continuing Irish historical creativity. Notably, UNESCO has added the Book of Kells to the Memory of the  World International Globally Important historical documents.

 

The Long Room, Trinity College, Dublin.
Final home to the Book of Kells.
The Long Room, opened in 1732,. is a 65 metre-long chamber and
is regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world.
Still in use today as a library

 

Book of Kells on display in the Long Room.

       

 

Ithaka by C.V. Cavafy

Homer's epic journey to Odysseus.
In mosaic.

Ithaca, Greek island in the Ionian Sea

 I recently read for the first time, Ithaka, by C.P. Cafavy and was charmed by it. Ithaka is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, famous as the mythical home of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey. Symbolically, the name, Ithaka, represents a cherished home, a desired destination or a lifelong goal. In literature, it often signifies the Journey of Life itself, emphasizing the value of experience over the destination, however greatly desired by the traveller is that destination. Cafavy's Ithaka was obviously inspired by Homer’s Odyssey and emphasizes that experience, knowledge and maturity gained along the way, constitute the true wealth of life rather than the goal itself, however magnificent. As well as the metaphorical message, the elegance of the language in Ithaka is beguiling. Here is a long quote from the second and third stanzas:

 Hope your road is a long one.
 May there be many summer mornings when,

 with what pleasure, what joy
you enter harbours you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind –
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities 

to learn, and go on learning, from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

The poem begins with a wish for Odysseus's pending journey to be a long one

explaining the joys to be met in its unfolding -- of coming into "harbours seen for the
first time"; of buying precious jewels and perfumes "at Phoenician trading stations";
of gathering knowledge from scholars. The speaker explains that the obstacles and hard times he will encounter are not from the gods but from his own fearful soul. In fact, Cavafy transforms the Odyssean myth into an expression of life's journey and the development of the soul, perhaps suggesting the further destination of death as an inspiration to live every day to its fullest. 

                                                 Renowned for seafaring and trade, the Phoenicians 

                                                 established one of antiquity's most extensive maritime

                                                networks, active for over a millennium.

I would guess that the appeal of this poem for me, particularly now, is that, in my nineties, I have often considered, looking back over my life and mulling over the memories, that it has been an eventful  journey with all that that implies; the remembered joys, and the sad regrets;

the lamentations for losses; the wondering what might have happened had I taken the road not chosen, but also the gradual illumination of why choices, and sometimes sacrifices, were made. Then there is the realisation that now I see how fortunate I am to have reached old age, not having hurried my journey at all but having unwittingly taken random chances to savour life, grow and mature. Perhaps it is good to have taken so long to be nearer that final destination, as Cavafy's poem suggests. That final point will arrive in good time, but perhaps only after I have enjoyed many more summer mornings, entered other random, unknown harbours, acquired more mother-of -pearl and coral, amber and ebony treasures and continued to learn from scholars. I see that I have had my seasons in the sun dappled with the shadows too.  My road to Ithaka did indeed give me a long and marvellous journey, the highs and lows of which are gratefully remembered..     

                                           Hope your road is a long one   

                                           May there be many summer mornings when,

                                           with what pleasure, what joy,

                                           you enter harbours that you're seeing for the first time;

                                           may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

                                           to buy fine things .......

                                           sensual perfumes of every kind.       

                                           Ithaka gave you a marvellous journey,                                                                                          Without her you wouldn't have set out.                                                                                         She has nothing left to give you now.

      

View from a Greek balcony in Ithaca over the Ionian Sea.

                                  And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. 

                                  Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, 

                                  you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

A good life remembered.

Every New Beginning

 

Every New Beginning ….…… 

                                                  ........ comes from some other beginning’s end.   Seneca

Seneca; Stoic, philosophet, statesman, dramatist
c 4 B.C.-65 A.D.

Mark Twain; novelist, essayist, journalist, humourist   
1835-1910.

I have chosen this theme simply because on Saturday, [14^th March 2026] I shall meet Maeve for the first time. Her birth has certainly initiated a huge and delightful beginning to Tom and Flora’s new life as a trio and marked the end of being a couple, a Maeve-less duo!  For me privately, of course, it is an exciting thought to acknowledge that I am now old enough to have a great granddaughter with possibly

Idealised representation of great grandma and new baby!

the beginnings of that attendant wisdom for this Nana that word implies! One of my favourite sayings since I first heard it has always been Mark Twain’s, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started" And Twain’s two most famous novels, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” are ones  which I read to many teenage classes as a young teacher, and which introduced characters and situations which were always loved and enjoyed by us all. Those two books seemed to capture the spirit of the Mississippi River and the then contemporary American life with wit, satire and authentic colloquial language so entertaining to hear.  Little did I realise when I first heard of Tom Sawyer’s entertaining adventures that these were the words of an influential and foundational figure in American literature. Twain has long been celebrated as a master humorist, able to tackle serious issues like slavery and imperialism through relatable characters and amusing, sometimes frightening, encounters.

Shape of things to come.

But back to the important present! Last weekend, observing my eldest grandson and his wife, I marvelled at the huge amount of involvement Tom had with the care of his baby daughter. All taken for granted these days, of course, but secretly admired by me. One can’t help but compare it with the slight amount of nappy-changing, bottom-wiping by Dads of previous generations. The birth of a baby has always been a profound, life-changing event that marks the beginning of a fresh chapter, bringing immense joy and a re-defined sense of purpose to the parents. Tom and Flora have all the delight in their new daughter, while happily managing on much less sleep as she seems to hoard her wakefulness and its active expression, to their night hours. It is impressive, though socially assumed to be normal, when new parents immediately transform their priorities from the absorption of self-and couple care to the protection and nurturing of this tiny, dependent human. The tumult of the birth and the joy following, shifts their focus from the past to the future as they instinctively look forward to guiding their baby on an unknown but beautiful journey ahead.

Niamh and Maeve:
one aunt with the V.I.M.
both with Celtic names.

Cait and Maeve:
a great aunt takes her turn with the
Very Important Maeve.

It was amusing to watch the assembled family at my son’s home, almost queuing to hold Maeve, talk to Maeve, cuddle Maeve, who was not, yet, quite at the stage of giving a grateful smile for all the cuddly interaction she was enjoying. Think the smiles of recognition for her parents are almost due and will be bountifully bestowed shortly. I would also guess that the totally thrilled Mum and Dad are also able to recognize, in the strength of their wonderment with their new daughter, how                                                                 special they, in their earlier turn, had been, and still are, to their    own parents. 

Proud parents enjoying their new beginning

Lao-Tzu b 604 B.C.
Philosopher, founder of T(D)aoism, poet.

       

                 Lao-Tzu   "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Maeve

Beryl Cook

 

  

Self-portrait of the artist leading her usual quiet life, feeding her tortoise
in the garden, watched by her cat.

Oops,  Beryl  being a little naughty.

There is a new exhibition of the works of artist, Beryl  Cook, almost one hundred years after her birth, which argues for a radical re-assessment of her work and legacy. Her art, ubiquitously displayed on greetings cards, prints, calendars, drinks coasters, tea towels, mugs, boxes of chocolates and tins of biscuits, always jolly, kitsch and bawdy, has long been loved by the British people. Her characters were 

even turned into a BBC cartoon Bosom Pals. Her models were ordinary working class folk, often female, ample of flesh and instantly recognisable! They are always having fun, in pubs, cafes, on the beach, in the bingo hall, perhaps at karaoke sessions. Her art proved irresistible to the general public and gave her a wide commercial success but the art establishment never took her work seriously and dismissed her efforts as popular but unserious; not really art at all! The late art critic, Brian Sewell, said of Cook's work, "It has a kind of vulgar streak which has nothing to do with art" while Nicholas Serota, the former Director of The Tate,  reportedly declared, "There will be no Beryl Cooks in the Tate Modern." The Tate still does not own any of her work, though two of her paintings featured in the 2010 Rude Britannia exhibition in Tate Britain. This current landmark exhibition is intended to change critical perceptions of Cook and cement her status as not just a hugely popular artist but as an incredibly important one also. 

A joyful occasion celebrated with the
carefully- displayed
Senior Railcard.

Beryl Cook: Pride and Joy, at The Box, Plymouth, (Cook's hometown) is the biggest retrospective of her work, featuring more than 80 paintings, rarely-seen sculptures and textiles plus her personal archive of thousands of photographs and sketches. "It's not only a celebration of Cook but also a chance to examine her catalogue in a deeper way.  It's about time for a big re-assessment of her works and their impact on people, artists and institutions," said Terah Walkup, the exhibition's curator told the BBC.

Lockyer Street Tavern 1976, the Sunday Times cover.

Born in Surrey in 1925, Beryl's early life involved working in pubs, clubs and, rather daringly, as a chorus girl in WW2.  After marrying her childhood sweetheart, a naval officer, and  having a son, she and her little family lived in Zimbabwe [then Southern Rhodesia] before returning to settle in south-west England, first in Looe, Cornwall and later in Plymouth, Devon where they ran a guest house. Hers was not a typical preparation for a later artistic life and her first painting was produced in an effort to encourage her son to pick up a brush, but Cook soon got a taste for painting, creating works to fill the walls of the family's cottage and later the guest house – but never with the ambition of becoming a professional artist. Her breakthrough came when a guest spotted her talent and introduced her to the owner of a Plymouth gallery. Her own first exhibition when she was 49 followed, but in 1976 The Sunday Times magazine used one of her paintings, The Lockyer Tavern, on its cover. Her success snowballed from there and by the time she died in 2008 when she was 81, she had created over 500 works and achieved  a place as one of Britain's most popular artists. 

Getting ready!

Cook largely painted the people she encountered in Plymouth: sailors and shoppers, plumbers and sex workers, drinkers and drag queens, women dressed up to the nines or baring their flesh in the pool. Her characters dance, drink, eat and laugh. There are smiles on their faces and glints in their eyes, joy emanating from every scene. "She loved painting people living life out loud," says Walkup. "She was a really keen observer. She painted people living their true, flamboyant selves." Cook's paintings are often described as comic, but there is no mockery present. "She truly paints her subjects with love and care and compassion and interest. She's fascinated by the world around her." When Cook was finding success in the 1970s and '80s, the contemporary world was experiencing enormous social, political and economic change, which is subtly reflected in her work. "I love her paintings of women in pubs around Plymouth, unabashedly occupying space, unapologetically and confidently smoking and drinking, maybe making eyes at somebody they find attractive, and just having this ownership of their body," says Walkup. "She's painting these at a time when there were still pubs that would refuse to serve pints to women".

On the look-out.

Perhaps even more progressive were her paintings of Plymouth's secret gay bars, including the back room of the Lockyer Tavern. "Its back bar was, for decades, known as a safe space, particularly for gay men to gather and socialise," says Walkup. "Beryl had many friends there. This isn't a world that would have been photographed, so the fact that she's able to capture what life was like for local queer communities then is extraordinary." Cook's paintbrush ignored the bleaker side of life, choosing instead to capture moments of celebration and connection. The viewer always experiences a warm familiarity with Beryl's characters.

John and Beryl do the tango.
This may be a self-portrait with hubby.
Note the racy flower behind the ear!

 A Guardian review of a 2007 exhibition called her characters "strictly one-dimensional," taking issue with her propensity for pleasure. "Cook won't even paint someone who looks as though they are suffering a mild headache... there is no pain in her world," wrote a critic. Beryl was the first to admit this. In a BBC interview, she said: "If I saw something sad I wouldn't dream of painting that… I love it when I see people enjoying themselves."  But, as Walkup suggests,  "What if her depiction of joy was radical – a celebration of those overlooked or othered by society, living life to its fullest? She's painting older women, she's painting curvy women, she's painting queer communities, working-class communities and working-class spaces, So she's painting all sorts of people and places that were subject to injustice in society. This had such a positive and  significant impact on her audiences."

Bar and Barbara,
heading into the Algonquin Hotel, New York City.

Beryl Cook fan and British owner of New York gallery, A Hug from The Art World, Adam Cohen described her as 'avant garde' when he put on the first exhibition of Cook's work in America in 2022. " It was surprising to me that Beryl had never shown in the US," he says. "Mine was her first overseas exhibition." Cohen says Cook has always been part of popular British culture. "Before I ever saw one of Beryl's paintings I encountered her in the commercial world. You'd go down the shopping aisle and there'd be Beryl Cook jigsaws, mugs and tea towels." In this respect, Cohen thinks Cook was quietly ahead of her time, explaining that while the art world used to sneer at commercialism, it now embraces it. "Look at an artist like [Yayoi] Kusama. She's on bags, she's on scarves, she's on posters. Beryl did this before anyone." 

The Vicar's Tea Party

Preparing for breakfast

Cook travelled to the U.S. in the 1980s and captured her time there in several paintings including Bar and Barbara which depicts two women in fur coats heading into New York City's Algonquin Hotel. She might be considered quintessentially British but Cohen had no doubt that Americans  would embrace her work. The New York Times commented that Cook's "vinegary wit translates naturally to New York." though I would question the adjective, 'vinegary'. No! Her wit was much more joyful, warmly ridiculous, hugely affectionate and proudly featuring mainly women who, frankly, didn't give a damn and enjoyed doing exactly that!

Everyday life in the caff up the road.
The owner, Elvira, appreciates the view.

Twins!

 

Beryl: a quiet and private person
with a splendid sense of humour.