Art & Life: The Paintings of Beryl Bainbridge

Interesting exhibition in the Inigo Rooms, King’s College at Somerset House of art work by Beryl Bainbridge.

In 1972 Beryl was offered both a solo art show and a publishing deal. She decided to follow the publishing deal but continued painting throughout her life often linking the pictures to the books. The exhibition thought that the decision to paint privately had liberated her from the constraints of the art world.

A lot of the work was of family, friends and her homes and there was a lovely picture of her son Aaron with an oil lamp. There was a also a nice self-portrait on a paper bag. Burt Brittan, a bookshop owner in New York, asked artists to do self-portraits on his shop nags in return for a drink and evidently this is one of a series.

There was a lovely room of pictures which tied into two of her books “The Birthday Boys” about Scott of the Antarctic and “Evert man for himself” about the Titanic. I thought it such a shame that she’d not used her own work as book covers and it was fascinating to see her working out ideas both in words and pictures.

I was fascinated to see her interested in the Bloomsbury Group, as I had seen her speak at Charleston Festival a few years ago. The show includes a work called “IN Maynard’s Room” showing an interior of the house.

The final room was a recreation of her rather eclectic home with an installation called Beryl’s Room which brought together a strange collection of objects from her house. Thank goodness the stuffed buffalo did not appear!

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