Beryl Cook

Beryl was born in Egham, Surrey in 1926. A renowned British painter noted for her humorous style of paintings. Beryl was self-taught and quickly forged a recognizable style, bold colourful works depicting voluptuous figures, often ladies socialising within lively settings such as garden parties, pubs, and dance halls. Her paintings are instinctively recognizable and celebrate the saucy side of British humour.

In the mid-seventies, her works caught the attention of one of their guests, who subsequently put her in touch with the management of the Plymouth Arts Centre, In November 1975 Beryl held her first exhibition at Plymouth Art Centre. The exhibition was a great success and gained a feature in The Sunday Times. This was followed by an exhibition at the Portal Gallery in London in 1976, where Cook continued to exhibit regularly until her death.

Beryl’s first book of collected arts was published by John Murray in 1978, and in 1979, a film was made for LWT’s The South Bank Show, where she discussed her work with Melvyn Bragg. Cook then collaborated with such authors as Edward Lucie-Smith and Nanette Newman by providing illustrations for their books. She continued to regularly publish books of her own artworks up into the early 2000s, including Beryl Cook’s New York (1985), inspired by her visit to the New York City.

In 1994, she received the Best Selling Published Artist Award from the Fine Art Trade Guild. In 1995, Beryl Cook was awarded the Order of the British Empire. She did not attend the official ceremony due to her shyness and accepted the honour at a quieter ceremony in Plymouth the following year. Post Office reproduced one of her paintings as a first-class postage stamp. In 2002, her painting The Royal Couple featured in the Golden Jubilee exhibition in London. Tiger Aspect Productions made two animated films called Bosom Pals using characters from her paintings, voiced by Dawn French, Rosemary Leach, Alison Steadman and Timothy Spall, and broadcast in February 2004. Channel 4 News produced a short film on Beryl and her work in 2005, and she was also the featured artist in BBC Two’s The Culture Show in 2006.

Beryl Cook died on 28 May 2008 at her home in Plymouth. Peninsula Arts of the Plymouth University mounted a major retrospective exhibition in November that year. Two books devoted to the artist were subsequently released, Beryl Cook 1926-2008 and The World of Beryl Cook. In 2010, two of her paintings were used as part of the Rude Britannia exhibition at the Tate Britain. Beryl Cook’s paintings are held with private and corporate collections including the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth Art Gallery and Durham Museum.