Beryl Cook, a Bathroom (Framed, Hand Signed Serigraph), 1987

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Serigraph in colors on paper. Hand signed lower right margin by Beryl Cook. Hand numbered 50/300 lower left margin. Hand … Read more Serigraph in colors on paper. Hand signed lower right margin by Beryl Cook. Hand numbered 50/300 lower left margin. Hand titled lower center margin. Artwork size: 27 x 13 inches. Frame size: 38 x 24 inches.

Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of Authenticity included.


About the Artist: Beryl Cook, (10 September 1926 – 28 May 2008) was an English artist best known for comical paintings of people she encountered in her home city. She had no formal training and did not take up painting until middle age.

Beryl Frances Tansley was born in 1926 at Epsom in Surrey, as one of four sisters. She grew up in Reading in Berkshire, where she attended Kendrick School, a selective girls' school near the centre of the town. Beryl left school at fourteen, and worked in a variety of jobs. Moving to London in 1943, she became a showgirl in a touring production of The Gypsy Princess. She also worked in the fashion industry.

In 1946 she married her childhood friend John Cook, who was in the Merchant Navy. When he retired from the navy, they briefly ran a pub. Their son John was born in 1950, and the following year they left to live in Southern Rhodesia. One day she picked up some paints belonging to her son, and started a picture. She carried on doing so, using various materials, painting on scraps of wood, fire screens and a breadboard. An early painting is Bowling Ladies.

In 1963, the Cooks returned to England to live in Cornwall, where she began to paint seriously. They moved to Plymouth, where they ran a busy theatrical boarding house in the summer months. She concentrated on painting in the winter months, recreating her personal views of Plymouth in oils on wooden panels. An antique dealer friend persuaded her to let him try and sell a few, and they sold quickly.

Tiger Aspect made two half-hour animated films of Beryl Cook's women who meet at Plymouth's Dolphin Pub. Bosom Pals has a voice cast of Dawn French, Rosemary Leach, Alison Steadman and Timothy Spall. The programmes were broadcast on BBC One in 2004 and won several animation awards. Channel 4 News featured a short film of Cook and her work in early 2005, the first in over 20 years. She also appeared in Art School on BBC Two.

In 2006, Portal Gallery held a comprehensive exhibition of Cook's work to celebrate her 80th birthday. A retrospective exhibition of her work was curated by Peter Doroshenko at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in 2007. She lived and worked in Plymouth, where she died in May 2008. Plymouth University mounted a major retrospective in November 2008. See less