Beryl Cook
Beryl Cook was born between the 2 world wars, she finally left Kendrick College in Reading at the age of fifteen, where she went to secretarial college and then into an insurance office. After moving to London and then Hampton, she at last married her nextdoor neighbour from Reading, John Cook. He was an officer in the Merchant Navy and after he left the sea in 1956, they acquired a bar for a year before John took a job in Southern Rhodesia with a motor company.
Beryl acquired their young child a box of watercolours, and when showing him the simple way to use it, she made a decision that she herself quite enjoyed painting. John afterwards purchased her a child's painting set for her birthday and that was with this that she produced her first important work, a half-length portrait of a darker skinned woman with an empty expression and big drooping juggs. It was aptly named 'Hangover ' by Beryl's hubby and still hangs in their home today. In 1964 Beryl cook and her man returned to the United Kingdom settling 1st in Cornwall and then later in Plymouth where, in the summer months, Beryl ran a boarding house for holiday-goers on the seafront. Beryl had now been painting for several years, basing her footage on her everyday discoveries of folks round her.
By 1975 she had assembled countless paintings that covered the walls of their boarding house. A buddy took away twelve or so and, to Beryl's surprise, managed to sell them all for £10 each. Beryl was happy and quickly increased her production.
Her success came to the awareness of Bernard Samuels at the Plymouth humanities Centre who swayed her to mount her first exhibition featuring seventy five paintings. It was a sell out. The rest, as one says, is history. An article quickly appeared in the Sun. Times Mag , followed by exhibitions at the Whitechapel and Portal Studios in London. Her first book 'The Works was revealed in 1978. Her paintings were then reproduced as greetings cards and short edition prints and shortly her work was being featured around the globe, tickling ribs from Kingston to the Cape, and creating substantial favored commend. This popular commend has been accompanied by heavy urgent appreciation, most particularly with the including of her painting in the 5th Peter Moores exhibition at the Hiker Art Gallery in Liverpool where she was seen within the context of conventional recent art, alongside Bridges Riley and Victor Passmore. The new Glasgow Museum of Modern Art has latterly bought some of her original work, making certain her a place in the annuls of Brit Art. Beryl Cook continues to color and has just recently moved from Plymouth, to Bristol to get close to her folks.