Edward Burra

Dunnollie Investments
Mrs Marjorie Parr, St Ives and London, 1973
Michael A C Buckley
Sale Sotheby's, London, 4^th July 2001, lot 143, where acquired by the present owner

London, Lefevre Gallery, Edward Burra: The Early Years (1923-1950), 7th October - 30th October 1971, cat. no.11, illustrated (as Composition, 1935);
London, Tate Gallery, Edward Burra, May - July 1973, cat. no.51, illustrated;
London, Hayward Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, Edward Burra, 1st August - 29th September 1985, cat. no.65.

 Andrew Causey, Edward Burra: A Complete Catalogue, Phaidon, Oxford, 1985, cat. no.101, illustrated.

The following condition report has been prepared by Jane McAusland ACR FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper: Support The artist has used two sheets of uneven size to support this gouache. These have been laid down onto a card, probably in the 1930s. There is a 1cm supported tear on the lower left edge and a small surface abrasion on the top right corner. Otherwise the condition is good. Medium The gouache medium is also in a good condition. There are some very small losses to the pigments in places. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, Burra's work developed at an exhilarating rate, his imagination responding vividly and instantaneously to the myriad of characters, locations and settings he had experienced in Europe and North America. From the heady French Bohemian underworld of bustling ports such as Marseilles and Toulon to Josephine Baker's Paris and the Harlem Jazz culture of New York which he first visited in 1933, Burra demonstrated a voracious appetite for the intoxicating world of bars, theatres, music halls and cafe cabarets he was drawn to in cities around the globe. The present work unites the separate worlds of two of his most intriguing characters:  on the left, the hot steamy realm of a voluptuous and sensuous diva surrounded by luxuriant vegetation and suitably exotic Moorish-inspired architecture whilst on the right, the modish ambit of a rather more raffishly dressed gentleman, a hint of sexual tension suspended across the tableau as she glances alluringly across to him. Indeed, as Burra's best friend Billy Chappell aptly explained, in the 1920s 'sexual ambiguity was the rule. Sexual promiscuity and sexual aberration the mode' (William Chappell, (ed.,) Well dearie! The Letters of Edward Burra, Gordon Fraser, London, 1985, p.27).

In her elaborate and provocative evening dress, the curvaceous female figure immediately belies Burra's well-documented fascination with all things Spanish, which had begun even before his visit there in 1933. He had been captivated by Spain as a country of extremes and raw emotion since his student days. This fascination was brought to the fore by political tensions that gathered momentum during 1931-6, between the abolition of the monarchy and the outbreak of civil war.

Her kitsch glamour also recalls the American screen-idols of the day, particularly Mae West, postcards of whom he avidly collected through the early thirties. Burra delighted in being in New York at the height of his heroine's success in 1933-34 and was undoubtedly attracted by her distinctly uninhibited acting style as well as her reputation as something of a predator. Throughout his career Burra was preoccupied by the image of the woman as temptress – to be approached with a mixture of adulation, fear and hostility – an idea undoubtedly fostered by his interest in the cinema and music hall, but which was also shared by the Surrealists. The profusion of plump red fruits over her head and hanging in abundance between her and the distanced suitor – who tentatively offers a flower to the object of his passion – reinforce the notion of temptation and eroticism as the overriding theme of the composition.

The central panels which divide the figures seem in turn to reinforce the idea of discordant romance, appertaining as they do to each of the characters. Hers depicts a jungle-like scene reminiscent of the work of Douanier Rousseau, with distinctly sensual plant-life and a large red bird-like form. (At this time Burra was producing his first Bird Women – see for example, Bird Women, 1932, Bolton Museum and Art Gallery – again linked to the Surrealists, such as Max Ernst, and their interest in bird and animal masks). In contrast, the panel beside the man, rendered as if in collage, incorporates a Joker playing card and a strange clown head within an enormous ruff, references perhaps to the inevitable failure of the man's assertive advances.

The single most isolated, and even bizarre, element is undoubtedly the arbitrarily-placed yellow disc, containing what at first appears to be a seed pot or another piece of fruit. On closer inspection, the object appears to relate to the cubist facial distortions of Picasso, whose exhibition Burra visited in Hartford, U.S.A. in 1933. The organic form is also suggestive of the female vulva, a distinct reference to the fetishisation of male and female body parts so beloved of the Surrealists. In these unique and almost unconscious international references, always articulated in Burra's own distinctive style, the artist was exceptional amongst his peers: a fact underlined by his inclusion in the New York Museum of Modern Art's touring exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism of 1936-7.