Barry Burman (1943–2001) was an English figurative artist, known for his dark and often disturbing subject matter. He was an artist and teacher. He took an overdose and died aged 57.

Early life

Burman was born in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in June 1943. He gained a 2/1 degree in

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

College of Art and continued his studies for a while at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

. Tutors at Coventry included Michael Sandle and Ivor Abrahams both Royal Academicians. Fellow students on his course were Mike Baldwin the conceptualist artist, Fred Orton the art historian, Sue Gollifer the print miniaturist and digital artist, Phillip Wetton who went on to teach at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

in the United States.

Employment

Despite his success as an artist, he continued to teach part-time at Mid-Warwickshire College in Leamington between 1974 and 1994.

Artistic method

Burman painted with oil, acrylic, ink, and wax

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder (material), binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a ...

mixed with

egg yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

and

vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

on thick paper to produce a leathery surface. Shortly before his death, Burman began to work in a new medium, creating a series of Papier-mâché figures / puppets – a return in three dimensions to earlier themes ('Leather Face', 'Uncle Tic Tac' and 'Tommy Rawhead').

Artistic themes

Sexuality and feminism

His early paintings are described by the critic Peter Webb as: "meticulous and controversial images which addressed his ideas on women's sexuality; provocative schoolgirls on black leather sofas; malevolent nudes clutching Victorian dolls; and threatening femme fatales grasping severed male heads". According to Webb, this led on one occasion to a physical attack from

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

critics on a

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

. Reprinted as an essay in catalogue for retrospective exhibition at The Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa, 2004

Murder

In the 1980s, he created a number of images inspired by both real-life and fictional serial killers, including

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

, Ed Gein, and

Hannibal Lecter Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a character created by American novelist Thomas Harris. Lecter is a cannibalistic serial killer and former forensic psychiatrist; after his incarceration, he is consulted by FBI agents Will Graham and Clarice Starling ...

. According to Malcolm Yorke, he visited the scenes of the

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

murders which "still exuded a scent of evil, or 'agony traces' as he called them".Malcolm Yorke, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (London), 24 May 2001 (obituary). Reprinted as an essay in catalogue for a retrospective exhibition at The Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa, 2004. In 1991, Burman won the Hunting Group / ''The Observer'' award with his painting 'Manac Es', inspired by the Whitechapel murders as fictionalised in Iain Sinclair's first novel 'White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings'.

Street scenes

Also in the 1980s, Burman painted a number of street scenes (including 'Angel Alley') and doorways in Whitechapel: "The area's blistered paint and cancerous brickwork ... offered him visual stimuli – and nobody could suggest more menace in a wall or cracked window than Burman".

Politics

In the 1980s, he tackled political themes, most notably the "chauvinism and bloody mindedness" of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

's premiership and the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

('Patriots').

Solo exhibitions

During his lifetime, Burman had nine solo exhibitions: *1969: Coventry College of Art *1969:

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

Art Gallery *1971: University of Warwick *1974:

Ikon Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an England, English art gallery, gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Listed building, Grade II listed, neo-Gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henr ...

, Birmingham *1977: Warwick Gallery *1982: Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry *1992: Nicholas Treadwell Gallery, London *1997: Loyal to the Nightmare, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham *1999: The Pilgrim's Progress: Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham John Bunyan's ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is commonly regarded as one of the most significant works of Protestant devotional literature and of wider early moder ...

'' was based upon a work that is said to be placed in American hotel bedrooms because it is too dull for anyone to steal it.Glyn Hughes: Barry Burman – The Pilgrim's Progress, Goldmark, 1999, Glyn Hughes has linked the idea to Burman's own childhood (he was baptised in the same font as Bunyan and regularly visited the church), his belief in

Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue, political participation, harms of corruption, positives of mixed constitution, rule of law, and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self ...

shared with Bunyan, and a healing process for Burman himself. Following his death, there have been three retrospective exhibitions: *2004: Barry Burman retrospective, The Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa *2007: The Unseen Burman, Gallery 12, London *2008: Burman – Barry Burman 1943–2001, Knifesmith Gallery, Bristol

Other exhibitions

Burman also exhibited at many group shows in the UK and abroad.

Dedication

Nicholas Royle's novel ''Antwerp'' ( Serpent's Tail, 2004) is dedicated to Barry Burman.

Death

Burman took an overdose and died in 2001, aged 57.

References

External links

Barry Burman Exhibition at Knifesmith Gallery, Bristol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burman, Barry 1943 births 2001 deaths Alumni of the Royal College of Art 20th-century English painters Drug-related suicides in England