Edward John Burra CBE (29 March 1905 – 22 October 1976) was an English painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, best known for his depictions of the urban underworld, Black culture and the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

scene of the 1930s.

Biography

Early life

Burra was born on 29 March 1905 at his grandmother's house in Elvaston Place, London, to Henry Curteis Burra, J.P., of Springfield Lodge,

Rye, East Sussex Rye is a town and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex, England, from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the River Rother (Eastern), Rother, the River Tillingham, Tillingham and the River Brede, Brede. An ...

, and Ermentrude Anne (née Robinson Luxford). His father, of a Westmorland family traceable back to the fourteenth century, was a barrister and later Chairman of East Sussex County Council. Edward attended preparatory school at Northaw Place in Potters Bar but in 1917 suffered from pneumonia and had to be withdrawn from school and home-educated. Burra took art classes with a Miss Bradley in Rye in 1921, then studied at Chelsea School of Art until 1923, and from 1923 to 1925 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 ...

under drawing tutors Randolph Schwabe and Raymond Coxon.

Early career

In March 1925, while travelling in Italy, Burra suffered with rheumatic fever. He met Paul Nash in the summer of 1925. Burra visited Paris with William Chappell in October 1925. In 1926, Burra travelled with his family to visit his sister in Florence, Italy, and also visited Siena and Paris. In 1927, he visited Paris with Lucy Norton and Sophie Fedorovitch, who painted his portrait, now lost. Burra was introduced to Oliver Brown of the Leicester Galleries in August 1927; in September–October, Burra and Chappell travelled to the south of France; in December, Burra exhibited at the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) is a society for contemporary artists that was founded in London, England, in 1886 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. The NEAC holds an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries ...

. Nash offered to teach Burra wood engraving in February 1928; Burra was commissioned by Crawfords to design vehicle advertising signs, which were rejected, in May 1928. Burra visited

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

with Chappell, Irene Hodgkins, Barbara Ker-Seymer, Brian Howard and

Anthony Powell Anthony Dymoke Powell ( ; 21 December 1905 – 28 March 2000) was an English novelist best known for his 12-volume work '' A Dance to the Music of Time'', published between 1951 and 1975. It is on the list of longest novels in English. Powell ...

. From October to December 1928, he stayed in Paris with Chappell, Fedorovitch, Frederick Ashton, Cedric Morris, Arthur Lett-Haines, Arthur Mahoney and John Banting. Burra visited dance halls and music halls on the rue de Lappe. Burra's first solo show was held at the Leicester Galleries in 1929. In May 1929, he visited Paris with Chappell, Ashton, Fedorovitch, Mahoney and Birgit Batholin. His sister Betsy died of meningitis in August 1929. He visited Scotland with his mother in September 1929. In October 1929, Burra exhibited with the London Group; woodblock prints were shown at the Society of Wood-Engravers exhibition at the Redfern Gallery in London. In January 1930, he began to make collages with Paul Nash. Later that year, he travelled with Paul and Margaret Nash to Paris and the South of France. In October 1931, he exhibited in ''Recent Developments in British Painting'', with John Armstrong, Nash, Edward Wadsworth and

Ben Nicholson Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscapes, and still-life. He was one of the leading promoters of abstract art in England. Backg ...

, at Arthur Tooth & Sons in London. Ashton's ballet ''A Day in a Southern Port (Rio Grande)'' opened at the Savoy, London in November 1931 with sets and costumes by Burra. He was a member of

Unit One Unit One was a British grouping of Modernist artists founded by Paul Nash. The group included painters, sculptors and architects, and was active from 1933 to 1935. It held one exhibition, which began at the Mayor Gallery in Cork Street, Lo ...

in 1933 and showed with the English Surrealists later in the 1930s.

Later life

Burra travelled widely, and many influences are at play in his works, which were usually watercolour on a large scale in strong colours. During World War Two, when it became impossible to travel, he also became involved in designing scenery and costumes for ballet, opera and theatre including '' Miracle in the Gorbals'' and became very successful in that field. His major religious painting, ''The Mocking of Christ'' (c.1952), is held by the University of Dundee Museum Services. He declined associate membership of the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

in 1963, but accepted a CBE in 1971. The Tate Gallery held a retrospective of his work in 1973. In conjunction with the exhibition at Tate, the Arts Council of Great Britain produced a documentary about his life and work, ''Edward Burra''. All the footage of the interview with Burra conducted for this film was assembled into a documentary in 1981, ''The Burra Interview'', in which he avers that "Nothing matters" and praises Yorkshire because "it's nice and bare".

Death

After breaking his hip in 1974, his health declined sharply and he died in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

in 1976. The Tate Gallery Archive holds considerable materials relating to Burra, including his letters.

Legacy

In the 1980s, Burra's paintings were used on the covers of Allison and Busby reprints of the "Harlem Cycle" novels of Chester Himes. At the

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

Evill/Frost sale in June 2011, Burra’s ''Zoot Suits'' sold for £2,057,250, breaking a record set for the artist earlier in the evening when ''The Common Stair'', from 1929, sold for £881,250. The first major museum exhibition of Burra's work for more than 25 years was held at Pallant House Gallery in

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

from 22 October 2011 to 19 February 2012. It was accompanied by a new monograph on the artist by the curator, Simon Martin. On 24 October 2011, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

aired an hour-long documentary, ''I Never Tell Anybody Anything: The Life and Art of Edward Burra'', in which the art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon chronicled the life of Burra. The documentary follows Burra from his native

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

to the Paris nightlife spots he loved and the jazz clubs of prohibition-era New York and the war-torn landscapes of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

and back to England during

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. It shows how Burra's increasingly disturbing and surreal work deepened and matured as he experienced at first hand some of the most tragic events of the century. Through letters and interviews with those who knew him, it presents a portrait of a highly unusual and gifted British artist."I Never Tell Anybody Anything: The Life Art of Edward Burra"
BBC Four. Retrieved 31 May 2017. Tate Britain opened a retrospective exhibition of Burra's works in 2025. The show's curator described Burra as "one of the great known unknowns of modern British art".

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 1929, April – Leicester Galleries, London * 1932, May – Leicester Galleries, London * 1937, May – Springfield Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA * 1942, November – Redfern Gallery, London * 1947, June – Leicester Galleries, London * 1949, July – Leicester Galleries, London * 1955, January – Magdalene Sothmann Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (''Retrospective'') * 1955, April – Swetzoff Gallery, Boston, USA * 1956, October – Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA * 1971, July – Treadwell Gallery, London (''Woodcuts 1928-9'') * 1971, October – Hamet Gallery, London (''Drawings of 1920s and 1930s'') * 1973, May – Tate Gallery, London (''Retrospective'') * 1977, May – Lefevre Gallery, London (''Memorial Retrospective Exhibition'') * 1977, October – Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, and tour to Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield, and Sunderland Public Library * 1980, March – Lefevre Gallery, London * 1980, April – Anthony D'Offay, London (''Early Works'') * 1982, April – Lefevre Gallery, London (''Paintings 1975-6'') * 1985, August –

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

, London, and subsequent tour * 1986 – Maria Henderson Gallery, London (''Designs for the Stage'') * 1987, November – Lefevre Gallery, London * 1993, June – Lefevre Gallery, London (''Drawings from the 1920s and 1930s'') * 1994, December – Lefevre Gallery, London (''The Formative Years'') * 2001, February – Spring Olympia Fine Art & Antiques Fair, London * 2003, January – James Hyman Fine Art, London (''Edward Burra: Stage and Cabaret'') * 2005, April – James Hyman Fine Art, London (''Edward Burra: Real and Surreal'') * 2005 – Lefevre Gallery, London (''A Centenary Exhibition'') * 2008, January – Tate Britain, London (''Selection of Harlem Pictures'') * 2011, October – Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, and subsequent tour to Djangoly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham In addition, from 1950 until his death, Burra held a show every two years at the Lefevre Gallery.

Principal group exhibitions

* 1927, December –

, London * 1929, October – London Group, London * 1931, October – ''Recent Developments in British Painting'', Arthur Tooth & Sons, London * 1932 – ''British Art'', Hamburg Kunstverein * 1933, October – ''Art Now'' – Mayor Gallery, London * 1934, April – ''Unit One'' – Mayor Gallery, London and provincial tour * 1935 – ''Exposition international d'Art Modern'' – Brussels, Belgium * 1936, June – ''International Surrealist Exhibition'', New Burlington Galleries, London * 1936, December – ''Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism'', Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA * 1937, May – ''Unity of Artists for Peace, Democracy and Cultural Development'', Artists International Association, London * 1938, January – ''Exposition internationale du Surréalisme'', Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France * 1939, July – ''British Painters'', New York World's Fair, USA, and North American Tour * 1940, June – ''Surrealism Today'', Zwemmer Gallery, London * 1951, May – ''Sixty Paintings for '51'', Arts Council (Festival of Britain), London * 1957, October – ''Contemporary British Art'', Paris, France * 1959, November – ''Three Contemporary English Artists'' (with Derrick Greaves and Hubert Dalwood), Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester * 1965 – ''The English Eye'', Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York, USA, London * 1978, January – ''Dada and Surrealism Reviewed'', Hayward Gallery, London * 1982, February – ''A Sense of Place: Edward Burra and Paul Nash'', Grey Art Gallery, New York, USA * 1987 – ''British Art in the Twentieth Century'', Royal Academy of Art, London * 1997 – ''Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance'', Hayward Gallery, London * 2001, February – ''Watercolour'', Tate Britain, London

Ballet, opera and theatre productions designed by Burra

* ''A Day in a Southern Port (Rio Grande)'', Camargo Society, Savoy Theatre, London, 29 November 1931 * ''Barbarau'', Vic-Wells Ballet, Sadler's Wells Theatre, London, 17 April 1936 * ''Miracle in the Gorbals'', Sadler's Wells Ball, Princes Theatre, London, 26 October 1944 * ''Carmen'',

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, Covent Garden, London, 14 January 1947 * ''Don Juan'', Sadler's Wells Ballet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 25 November 1948 * ''Don Quixote'', Sadler's Wells Ballet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 20 February 1950 * ''Canterbury Prologue'' (the ballet was previewed under the title ''Surprise Ballet'', Royal Hall, Harrogate, 19 July 1951),

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 30 July 1951; King's Theatre, Hammersmith, London, 15 October 1951 * ''Simply Heavenly'', Adelphi Theatre, London, 20 May 1958

Books illustrated by Burra

* Lee, Laurie, ''The Voyage of Magellan: A Dramatic Chronicle for Radio'', London: John Lehmann Ltd, 1948 * ''The Oxford Illustrated Old Testament: With Drawings by Contemporary Artists''. Authorized King James Version of 1611, London: Oxford University Press, 1968 (Burra illustrated "The Book of Judith") * Poe, Edgar Allan, ''The Tell-Tale Heart'', London: John Lehmann Ltd, 1948 * Ramuz, C. F., ''The Triumph of Death'', London: Routledge, 1946 * Twain, Mark, ''

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. Commonly named among the Great American Novels, th ...

'', London: Paul Elek (Camden Classics), 1948 * Wolfe, Humbert, ''ABC of the Theatre'', London: Cresset Press, 1932

References

External links

Pallant House Gallery
* Nicholas Wroe
"Jazz, Paris and war's brutality: the radical watercolours of Edward Burra, British art's great unknown"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, 5 June 2025. {{DEFAULTSORT:Burra, Edward 1905 births 1976 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century English printmakers Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Alumni of the Royal College of Art Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English male painters English watercolourists Painters from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Rye, East Sussex People from South Kensington