Edward Burra, The Common Stair, 1929Image 1 of 5 | Estate of the artist, courtesy of Lefevre Fine Art, London, 2011 photo by Scala, Florence

Edward Burra, Dockside Cafe, Marseilles, 1929Image 2 of 5 | estate of the artist, courtesy Lefevre Fine Art, London

Edward Burra, Market Day, 1926Image 3 of 5 | estate of the artist, courtesy Lefevre Fine Art, London

Edward Burra, Silver Dollar Bar, c 1953Image 4 of 5 | estate of the artist, courtesy Lefevre Fine Art, London

Edward Burra, The Tea Shop, 1929Image 5 of 5 | estate of the artist, courtesy Lefevre Fine Art, London

 

 

 

 

 

Overview

This exhibition of around 70 major works from across Edward Burra's career focuses on the artist's unparalleled social observation and draughtsmanship. Previewing the exhibition for the Autumn 2011 issue of Art Quarterly, Simon Martin salutes Burra's passion for the seamy side of life: 

'Like the novelist Christopher Isherwood, Burra was a "camera" – a spectator with an extraordinary memory for detail. He was fascinated by modern urban life: his acute observations of the demi-monde in dockside bars, Toulon Cafes, and Harlem nightclubs are unrivalled ... He was not interested in good taste. If anything he embraced "bad" taste: garish nightclub performers, sailors in search of a pick-up, tarts in a snack bar or ghoulish dancing skeletons. He was unafraid of expressing a "gay" sensibiity at a time when such personal honest and an overtly camp aesthetic were by no means widely acceptable ... A former Director of Tate, Sir John Rothenstein, observed of Burra's legacy as a painter of social scenes: "It is not, of course, to their accuracy that Burra's scenes of low life owe their uniqueness, but to his preternatural comprehension of haunts of corruption."'