Edward Burra on True Outsider

Edward Burra's paintings were one of the highlights for me from the 2009 exhibition at the Bluecoat, Liverpool to celebrate Malc's centenary.

Read a feature on True Outsider on the paintings inspired by Burra's 1938 trip to Mexico with Conrad Aiken when the visited Malc in Cuernavaca.

Edward Burra's Skeleton Party

Edward Burra (1905-1976) occupies a particular place in 20th century British art: represented in major collections yet remaining, like Malcolm Lowry, something of an outsider. He is best known for his satirical, often macabre paintings of 1920s and 1930s urban life, particularly its seedier side. He flirted with Surrealism and his allegorical works share some of its characteristics. Working mainly in watercolour, he imbued his art with 'a feeling of tawdriness and the meretricious and yet, at the same time, (created) such convincing beauty' (George Melly).

Despite constant ill health, Burra traveled widely, visiting Lowry in Cuernavaca in 1937, together with Lowry's early mentor and their mutual friend, the American writer Conrad Aiken. On his return to England Surra painted Mexican Church, its composition based on two postcards of churches he'd visited, the cathedral at Taxco and Santa Catarina, Mexico City. Burra and Lowry did not get on, however both shared an interest in Mexican culture.

Burra was influenced particularly by the Mexican muralists and the prints of Jose Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913), whose depictions of lively skeletons had a profound effect, contributing to his interest in representations of death. Under the Volcano's Day of the Dead theme is echoed in Burra's other two paintings shown here. Dancing Skeletons, painted after a visit to Spain, anticipates his Mexican journey and immersion in the iconography of death. In Skeleton Party, completed nearly 20 years later, Surra returns to this earlier theme. Whilst the pyramid shapes on the horizon have been identified as slag heaps in an industrial landscape, they could equally suggest the twin peaks of Lowry's Mexican volcanoes. Bryan Biggs Artistic Director The Bluecoat Liverpool: Under The Volcano; An Exhibition for Malcolm Lowry 1909-1957,

Josephine Baker Haiti

I have recently received a copy of the catalogue of Edward Burra's jazz collection held in the Tate London. One of the sides which the Tate have on 78 is Josephine Baker's Haiti/C'Est Lai on Columbia. The song is from the film Zou Zou which was released in late 1934. We can only speculate whether Lowry knew the film but Lowry did travel to Haiti in 1946 - Haiti - "where what goes on is simple nature and scenery" La Mordida

Conrad Aiken Interview Paris Review 1968

I just came across a copy of an interview on the Net originally given by Conrad Aiken to the Paris Review in 1968. There are many references to Lowry in the interview.

The painting above is Edward Burra's John Deth(Homage To Conrad Aiken)1930. This painting must date from when Conrad Aiken returned to Rye, Sussex to mentor Lowry while Lowry was at Cambridge. Burra, who by all accounts had a fraught relationship with Lowry, would have met Malc in Rye in late 1930. I wonder whether Malc is featured in Burra's painting?

In a later post, I will return to Burra and his love of jazz which would have at least given him some connection with Malc.