Girls just wanna have fun
This was inspired by an image posted on Birdie’s blog. It’s a picture by Beryl Cook (who died last year at the age of 81).
“Tenerife Days”
Cook’s work is brilliant. As her obituary in The Telegraph stated at the time:
Beryl Cook painted what she described as “ordinary people enjoying themselves” and recorded the foibles of the British better than any documentary. Vulgar, raucous and straightforward, her paintings were as saucy as the seaside postcards of Donald McGill; she painted plump people in everyday and sometimes surreal situations, with special emphasis on bottoms and bosoms.
Among her cast of characters are fat, uninhibited matrons oozing out of corsets as they cavort on the dance floor; big-bottomed girls in leggings and stilettos wearing the self-satisfied smiles of the sexually alluring; and fat members of the working class lying on the beach, drinking in the pub or guzzling lobsters.
Her characters are so recognisable. Even in Egypt last September when I holidayed with friends – those exact stereotypes shown in the picture above, middle aged people of a certain age of a certain class at a certain time of life – were there.
You know where I remember having seen all these people before, more so than anywhere else? Gatwick Airport. I’m always transfixed by the people (they look just like many from these pictures) waiting to board their planes to Tenerife and Benidorm and Lanzarote and all those destinations. The likenesses are uncanny.
A few more…
Bett Lynch eat your heart out!
There is so much ‘art’ out there that I just don’t get nor like – especially the ‘modern’ stuff. But this type of art is brilliant and I love it!
More information at BerylCook.org
I love the second picture (the one with the woman with the red bag)!
Enrico
February 15, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I love Mr Muscle
Isn’t he dreamy?
lula
February 15, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Forget Tenerife and Benidorm…….we see these people every day here in Wal-Mart !!
Silverback
February 15, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Enrico – glad you like them! One of my favourites is called ‘Cocktails for Three’. I didn’t post the image but it’s here:
http://www.renjeau.com/scans/image18_6.jpg
Lula – err yes, he kind of is, isn’t he? LOL!
SB – Hahaha! Pictures please! I love reading your Wal Mart stories on your blog, too!
Milo
February 16, 2009 at 10:54 am
She was very good
SCM
February 16, 2009 at 8:30 pm
SCM – the best! I’ve decided I want one of her books now; am captivated by her work.
Milo
February 16, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Milo – I like that one a lot too! I added the other one to my folder of random wallpapers for my comp (it changes every hour) but that one’s a little too thin. And I hope that is juice in those cups
Enrico
February 17, 2009 at 12:00 am
I love her work. James and I saw an original in an art dealer in Bristol but nearly passed out when we saw the cost, so ran away quickly. Whenever I hear Victoria Wood’s ‘Saturday Night’ (which is more often than you think in this house) I picture these paintings and laugh.
Sven
February 17, 2009 at 2:03 am
That last lady with the golden boots, the leopard skin print and the 2 pooches? I am pretty sure I saw her this morning in the park!
Debby
February 17, 2009 at 2:35 am
Enrico – hehe, I hadn’t realised you were so anti-drink, until Craig had mentioned it! Glad you’re liking the pics!
Sven – hehehe, great parallel!
Debby – hahaha, you should have snapped a pic!
Milo
February 17, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Tenerife is actually one of my favourite places on the planet – not the bars and clubs and stuff that everyone thinks it is – that’s just one resort. The rest of the island is beautiful and mostly unspoilt. Don’t slate it until you’ve been there!
Love Beryl Cook though!
Redhead
February 17, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Red – Sheridan likes Tenerife too! Also says it’s very beautiful etc and that you can avoid the wotsits if you don’t go for the cheapest hotels. Just made me laugh that she actually titled the picture ‘Tenerife Days’.
Milo
February 17, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Yeah I bet Playa de las Americas does look like that
Sorry, re-read all my comments and it just looks like I’ve been missing for ages then come on and been a comment terrorist – didn’t mean it to be like that! xx
Redhead
February 17, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Red – not to worry, you’ve had a lot on your plate! You being a comment terrorist reminds me of our 20six days back in 2003, remember? Blogging then was very different to now. We would have some posts with 50+ comments on them. It was like a ’static chat’. Fun though
Only person that still does that is Craig on his blog I think.
Milo
February 18, 2009 at 9:47 am
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