Beryl Cook Limited Edition

Because this is what Beryl Cook Limited Edition prints and original paintings do perfectly – reflect back at us our exquisitely observed habits, quirks and foibles, magnified, writ large, and made hilarious.

We are the inspiration for Beryl Cook Limited Edition prints and original paintings, and this must be part of the reason that her work continues to grow in popularity, even after her death at the age of 81 in May 2008.

Born in Epsom in 1926, and brought up in boring old Reading, Beryl Cook moved to the bright lights of London in 1943 to work first as a showgirl, then in the fashion industry, and married old friend John in 1946. The couple ran a pub for a bit, had a 10 year stint in Southern Rhodesia, moved back to Cornwall, and finally settled in Plymouth in the sixties, where they ran a theatrical boarding house and immersed themselves in the life of this lively seaside town full of sailors, pubs and goings on.

Beryl Cook limited edition prints and original paintings capture all of this life and exuberance, the madness of people. She has be said to follow in the British Social realist tradition of artists like Hogarth, although unlike him, Beryl Cook seems to have had no political agenda. She was merely driven by her unique view of people and their endlessly fascinating behaviour. There is too an optimism in Beryl Cook. There is never judgement inherent in the work, only observation. We are funny creatures, and never more so than when featured in a Beryl Cook Limited Edition Print or original painting.