Biography

English artist Edward Burra lived all his life in the Sussex seaside town of Rye, but travelled extensively. He studied at Chelsea Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art, London. Burra's preferred medium was watercolour, although he did make some collages and occasional designs for the theatre. He liked to live life on the margins of society, revolting against his middle-class background. He is particularly well known for a series of Harlem street scenes produced from 1933 to 1934. Burra's imagery became increasingly fantastical towards the mid-1930s, and he exhibited with the English Surrealists.