Beryl Cook (1926–2008) was an English painter famous for humorous, affectionate scenes of everyday British life. Without formal training, she began painting in her thirties in Southern Rhodesia, and after successful shows in Plymouth (1975) and at London’s Portal Gallery (1976) she became one of Britain’s most popular artists; she was appointed OBE in 1995. Her favourite subjects were full-figured women, pubs, cafés, beaches, sailors and drag performers.
Beryl Cook (1926–2008), born in Egham, Surrey, was an English painter famous for her humorous, affectionate scenes of everyday British life. She worked in fashion before marrying John Cook in 1946 and in 1951 moved with him to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). There, in her thirties and without formal training, she began painting almost by chance, using her son’s paint set. After returning to England in 1963 the family settled first in Cornwall and later, from 1968, in Plymouth, where she lived for the rest of her life. Her early pictures were often painted on found wooden panels, scraps and breadboards. Her first exhibition, at the Plymouth Arts Centre in 1975, was an immediate success, and in 1976 she had a sell-out show at the Portal Gallery in London, with which she exhibited for over three decades. Her favourite subjects were full-figured women, pubs, cafés, beaches, sailors and drag performers, painted with warmth and wit. Books such as “The Works” (1978), “Private View” (1980) and “Beryl Cook’s New York” (1985), together with countless prints and cards, made her one of Britain’s most popular artists, although she was long overlooked by the art establishment. She was appointed OBE in 1995 and died in Plymouth in 2008. The lithograph “3 Musicians” (1995), numbered 110/650 and offered by TUMO Gallery, shows her lively, good-humoured approach to music-making and social life.
