Byron Leslie Burford, Jr. (July 12, 1920 – June 17, 2011) was an American figurative painter.

Biography

Byron Leslie Burford, Jr., was born July 12, 1920, in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, to Byron and Floy Smith Burford. Growing up in Greenville, Burford became fascinated with the carnivals and circuses booked to perform in the community by his father, who directed the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

. At the age of 14 Burford went to work as a roadie for the

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western (genre), Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were s ...

Circus, and he painted circus life. After he completed high school, Burford studied at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History and was one of the students mentored by

Grant Wood Grant DeVolson Wood (February 13, 1891February 12, 1942) was an American artist and representative of Regionalism (art), Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for ''America ...

. In 1941 Burford completed a commission for the Treasury Department's

Section of Painting and Sculpture Section, Sectioning, or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section s ...

, a

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

for the U.S. post office in

Houston, Mississippi Houston is a city and one of two county seats of Chickasaw County, in northeastern Mississippi, United States. The population was 3,623 at the 2010 census. History Native American groups had long used the future Chickasaw County for millennia ...

. He received his bachelor's degree in 1942 and joined the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

. After World War II he returned to the University of Iowa and completed his

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree in 1947. Burford taught painting at University of Iowa for 38 years. His friends in

Iowa City Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The Iowa City metropolitan area, which enc ...

included

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...

, who taught at the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

for two years in the 1960s. Throughout his academic career Burford used his breaks to travel with circuses, painting and playing drums with the band. Burford's paintings and prints of soldiers, athletes, jazz musicians, factory workers and circus people attracted a wide following. A well-known artist in the Midwest, Burford exhibited widely and received many honors and awards, including a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and a grant from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 1967. In 1966,

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts into a Jewish immigrant family, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a b ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised Burford's first one-person show in New York, noting that "Mr. Burford surprises us by displaying a very lively imagination, some obsessive themes and a real flair for dramatizing his ideas. Motifs drawn from carnival and circus life, from popular culture and nostalgic glimpses of forgotten wars, are transformed into graphic symbols of a notable complexity." His work is in the permanent collections of institutions including the

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art gallery, art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of A ...

, the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

and the

University of Iowa Museum of Art The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a visual arts institution that is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Since its inception, the museum has part ...

. Burford was married for 65 years to Kathleen Kane, who died in 2009; they had three children. Burford died June 17, 2011, at his home in Iowa City, of natural causes, aged 90.

References

External links

*
Sugar and Spice
' (1991), painting in the collection of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

Byron Burford
at the Dean Jensen Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Burford, Byron 1920 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Artists from Jackson, Mississippi People from Greenville, Mississippi People from Iowa City, Iowa United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II University of Iowa alumni University of Iowa faculty Section of Painting and Sculpture artists 20th-century American male artists