World of Beryl Cook

Plump ladies at lunch, girls on a night out, shopping in the mall: for over fourty years Beryl Cook brought our everyday world to colorful life, capturing moments of social history to create a perceptive record of life in the second half of the twentieth century. This highly popular book, the last to be published with Beryl’s cooperation, is now available in a revised version featuring her last four paintings, alongside many other rarely seen works not included in the previous edition. It also offers an appreciation of her life and work. News of Cook’s death in May 2008 prompted an outpouring of admiration from the art world and the general public alike. The London Times wrote: “Cook was the mistress of evanescent facial expressions and body language—the furtive glance, the hint of competitiveness, the deep concentration, the studied indifference and the momentary indecision…” Today Beryl Cook’s pictures hang in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art and in the Plymouth and Bristol City Art Galleries. In London the Portal Gallery has represented Cook’s work exclusively for her entire painting career, staging 18 solo exhibitions. Collected by celebrities such as Yoko Ono, Jackie Collins and Whoopi Goldberg, Cook’s work continues to attract loyal fans, making her one.