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 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. This 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 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 wam 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 owner of New York gallery, A Hug from The Art World, Adam Cohen described her as 'avant guarde' 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

A shy and private person
with a finely-attuned sense of humour

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.