Beryl Cook facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Beryl Cook
|
|
|---|---|
Beryl Cook in her studio
|
|
| Born |
Beryl Francis Lansley
10 September 1926 |
| Died | 28 May 2008 (aged 81) Plymouth, England
|
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Naive art |
| Awards | OBE |
Beryl Cook, who received the OBE, was a British artist. She was born on September 10, 1926, and passed away on May 28, 2008. Beryl Cook was famous for her very original and easy-to-recognize paintings.
Her artworks were often quite funny. They showed people she saw in her daily life. This included people having fun in pubs, girls out shopping, or families enjoying a picnic by the sea. She did not go to art school. She only started painting when she was in her thirties. Beryl was a shy and private person. But in her art, she often painted lively and outgoing characters. These were the kinds of people she might have wished to be herself.
Since she passed away in 2008, Beryl's son John and granddaughter Sophie have managed her official website. It shares information about Beryl Cook's life and art.
Contents
Beryl Cook's Life Story
Early Life and Discovering Art
Beryl Francis Lansley was born in Egham, Surrey, England. She was one of four sisters. Her parents separated when she was very young. Her mother then moved to Reading, Berkshire, with her daughters. Beryl went to Kendrick School there. However, she left school at age fourteen. After that, she worked in various jobs.
Later, she moved to London around the end of World War II. In 1948, she married her childhood friend, John Cook. John worked in the merchant navy, sailing on ships. When he stopped working at sea, they briefly ran a pub in Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk. Their son, John, was born in 1950. In 1956, the family moved to live in Southern Rhodesia. This country is now known as Zimbabwe. They lived in Africa for ten years. It was there, in 1960, that Beryl Cook created her very first painting.
Becoming a Famous Artist
The family returned to England in the mid-1960s. In 1965, they moved to East Looe, Cornwall. Here, Beryl spent more time on her painting. Then, in 1968, they moved to Plymouth. They bought a guest house on the Hoe. Beryl divided her time between running the guest house and painting more and more.
In the mid-1970s, one of their guests noticed her artworks. This guest helped her connect with the Plymouth Arts Centre. Her first art exhibition took place there in November 1975. The exhibition was a big success. It even led to a main feature in The Sunday Times newspaper. After this, she had another exhibition at the Portal Gallery in London in 1976. Beryl Cook continued to show her art there regularly until she passed away.
Beryl Cook became more and more popular. Her paintings were soon in high demand. Her first book of collected artworks was published in 1978 by John Murray. In 1979, a film was made about her for LWT's The South Bank Show. In this film, she talked about her work with Melvyn Bragg. Cook also worked with authors like Edward Lucie-Smith and Nanette Newman. She created illustrations for their books. She kept publishing books of her own art into the early 2000s. This included Beryl Cook's New York (1985), which was inspired by her trip to New York City.
Awards and Later Life
In 1994, Beryl Cook received the Best Selling Published Artist Award. This award came from the Fine Art Trade Guild. In 1995, she was given the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She was too shy to attend the official ceremony. Instead, she accepted the honor at a quieter ceremony in Plymouth the next year.
The Royal Mail even put one of her paintings on a first-class postage stamp. In 2002, her painting The Royal Couple was shown in the Golden Jubilee exhibition in London. Tiger Aspect Productions made two animated films called Bosom Pals. These films used characters from her paintings. Famous actors like Dawn French and Timothy Spall provided the voices. The films were shown in February 2004.
Channel 4 News made a short film about Beryl and her work in 2005. She was also the featured artist on BBC Two's The Culture Show in 2006.
Beryl Cook passed away on May 28, 2008, at her home in Plymouth. Peninsula Arts at Plymouth University held a large exhibition of her work in November of that year. Two books about the artist were later released: Beryl Cook 1926-2008 and The World of Beryl Cook. In 2010, two of her paintings were part of the Rude Britannia exhibition at the Tate Britain. Beryl Cook's paintings are now owned by several museums. These include the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth Art Gallery, and Durham Museum.
