Both these exhibitions provide fascinating retrospectives on the work of two roughly contemporary artists who have often been under-appreciated. Edward Burra was born in 1905 and died in 1976, while Ithell Colquhoun was born in 1906 and died in 1988. Both were influenced by the surrealist movement, but while Colquhoun's work is replete with symbolism reflecting her occult and spiritual interests, Burra's oeuvre is more grounded in time and place. From his early works which were depictions of the life of the demimonde in the cafés and cabarets of France, through his celebration of America's Harlem Renaissance, to the artist's final works which suggest his despair regarding the industrial despoilment of the English countryside, there is a detached, sardonic side to Burra's work that stands in contrast to Colquhoun's spiritual earnestness. Although the Spanish Civil War and World War II profoundly affected Burra and his output, bringing a dark, almost cynical, tone to it, unlike Colquhoun he is not drawn to explore the psychological or metaphysical questions raised by such traumas. Whereas she dabbles in the spiritual possibilities of surrealist automatism and uses the decalcomania technique of pressing together two surfaces covered with paint to create symbolic, occultist images, Burra's works like War in the Sun (1938), while they may appear almost allegorical, still remain very much grounded in the here and now. His response to the horrors of war is visceral but like his earlier celebrations of a sybaritic lifestyle the emotions are very much of the moment and on the surface. There is no seeking of the transcendent in this quotidian reality. Later, Burra turns to theatre design as a refuge from the broken world that he now sees, but this vocation stands in stark contrast to Colquhoun's later pursuit of consolation in Celtic mythologies. These are two very different artists who experienced the same political and social upheavals and who were subject to the same artistic influences, but their responses are a study in contrasts. For the visitor, the power of these two parallel exhibitions is the extraordinary opportunity to compare these two individuals' creative responses to their life experience and to savour their exceptional bodies of work.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Left image: Edward Burra Three Sailors at a Bar 1930 Private collection, courtesy of Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert. © The estate of Edward Burra, courtesy Lefevre Fine Art, London.
Right image: Ithell Colquhoun Scylla 1938 Tate Purchased 1977 © Spire Healthcare, © Noise Abatement Society, © Samaritans
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