Will Beryl Cook finally make it into Tate Modern?
The reported acquisition of a work suggests that the London museum is revising its opinion of the late artist
The late UK artist Beryl Cook, long derided for her popular depictions of plump, fun-seeking people now emblazoned on countless calendars and mugs, is undergoing a renaissance. Cook was the subject of a critically acclaimed show at The Box gallery in Plymouth, UK, earlier this year and is now getting a prime platform at the Bicester Village designer outlet shopping centre in Oxfordshire thanks to House of Voltaire, the retail arm of the arts organisation Studio Voltaire.
“Bicester Village will host a mile-long open-air installation featuring life-size cutout characters and large-scale murals from the artist’s best-loved paintings (until 25 October),” says a statement from the organisers. Beryl might even get Tate’s seal of approval, with the Financial Times reporting that a spokesperson said: “Tate is now in the process of acquiring one of her paintings for its collection”. It would be quite the U-turn for Tate, the organisation’s former director Nicholas Serota reportedly said in the 1990s: “there will be no Beryl Cooks in the Tate Modern”.
- Beryl Cook at Bicester Village , Oxfordshire, until 25 October
