EDWARD BURRA
2012-03-05This is the first major exhibition for over twenty-five years of the work of Edward Burra (1905-1976), providing the opportunity to reassess one of the most individual and celebrated British artists of
the twentieth century.
Despite suffering from acute arthritis, Burra created a large body of memorable paintings during his lifetime, characterized by their unusually powerful handling of the watercolour medium and his singular taste for the macabre. Defiantly anti-intellectual, he was nevertheless widely read and drew on an extraordinary range of artistic influences from old masters to his own contemporaries, as well as Hollywood cinema, ballet and jazz music.
In common with Lowry, Burra remained distinct from most mainstream modernist art movements though he was a member
of the English Surrealist Group in the 1930s and a close friend of the artist Paul Nash. Above all, Burra painted for himself,
describing his activity as ‘a sort of drug’ and each of his paintings creates a world unmistakably his own.
Exhibition runs through to May 27th, 2012
Lakeside Arts Centre
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD
