Edward Burra

Lefevre Gallery, London, March 1988

London, Lefevre Gallery, Edward Burra, Paintings from America, 27th March-2nd May 1980, no. 8, illustrated in the catalogue p.19.

 

Andrew Causey, Edward Burra: Complete Catalogue, Phaidon, Oxford, 1985, no. 191, illustrated.

In excellent original condition. The colours appear to be beautifully fresh and vibrant throughout although it is possible that some very slight fading has occurred over the years. Presented behind glass in a decorative black and gilt wooden frame with minor surface scuffs but otherwise in good sound condition. Ready for the wall. Please note that the reds are slightly cooler in the original while the yellow of the angel is more vibrant than it appears in the catalogue photograph.
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In a departure from purely figurative work, Burra painted a small series of biblical scenes from the late 1940s onwards to which the present work belongs. Although religious imagery had never featured largely in his work before, prior to this he had travelled to Mexico for six months in the late 1930s and this had a profound influence on his work. He admired the hugely extravagant baroque churches and their crumbling magnificence and in works such as Mexican Church (Tate Collection), he placed clear religious symbols at the centre of his work.

In the late 1940s paintings such as Resting Angel (Private Collection), Limbo (Coll. University of Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery) and Resurrection perhaps demonstrate an attempt to use religious subject matter in a way that evokes emotion rather than faith and certainly in the depiction of angelic figures as seen in the present work and Resting Angel he may be referring back to the early nineteenth century imagery of William Blake and Henry Fuseli.