Burra, Edward John, 1905-1976

Edward Burra was born in 1905 and was privately educated. He took to art in his teenage years after the beginning of the ill health which was to last the rest of his life, but never impeded him. He studied at Chelsea Polytechnic in 1921-3, and at the Royal College of Art in 1923-5. During this time he met the core group of friends whom he kept for the rest of his life, including William 'Billy' Chappell, Paul Nash, Barbara Key-Seymer, John Banting, Frederick Ashton, Beatrice Dawson, Gerald Corcoran and Conrad Aiken. After college he lived much of the rest of his life at his parent's house near Rye, Sussex. Burra travelled widely and as often as possible. He visited France, Spain, America and Mexico, and spent much of his time in low bars, nightclubs, dance-halls and cinemas from which he drew inspiration. His first solo show was at the Leicester Galleries in 1929. He exhibited with 'Art Now' and 'Unit One' at the Mayor Gallery in 1933 and 1934, and in the International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936. Burra also produced illustrations and designed sets and costumes for six ballets, an opera and a musical comedy. From 1952 he exhibited at the Lefevre Gallery focusing on still-life and landscape subjects. In 1958 the Hayward Gallery held a retrospective of his work. Burra avoided artistic groups and institutions, only involving himself with 'Unit One' and refusing an Associate Royal Academician in 1963. He died in 1976.

From the guide to the Papers of Edward Burra, 1901-1970s, (Tate Gallery Archive GB 70)