Edward Burra's guest appearances

Edward Burra

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Great Lives

Front Row: Archive 2011

Don McCullin

Tracy Chevalier

Anthony Horowitz

Terence Conran

John Craven

Tracey Emin

Cornelia Parker

Val McDermid

David Adjaye

Jeremy Deller

Tacita Dean

Jeremy Paxman

David Hockney

Simon Schama

Laura Marling

OwlTail

Jonathan Meades

Writer Jonathan Meades nominates the English artist Edward Burra, who died in 1976, for "great life" status, arguing that he deserves to be better known. Burra painted sailors, drinkers and prostitutes in Toulon; jazz musicians in Harlem; surreal wartime pictures of soldiers in terrifying bird masks; and, in his later years, landscapes in which anthropomorphic and malevolent machines bite chunks out of the countryside. Disabled with rheumatoid arthritis from an early age, Burra barely went to school and so escaped the Edwardian upper class upbringing that would otherwise have been his destiny. At once camp yet apparently celibate, Burra was intensely private and disliked talking about either himself or art - or, as he called it, "fart". Matthew Parris chairs the discussion, and is joined by Burra's biographer Jane Stevenson. Producer: Jolyon JenkinsFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Writer Jonathan Meades nominates the English artist Edward Burra, who died in 1976, for "great life" status, arguing that he deserves to be better known. Burra painted sailors, drinkers and prostitutes in Toulon; jazz musicians in Harlem; surreal wartime pictures of soldiers in terrifying bird masks; and, in his later years, landscapes in which anthropomorphic and malevolent machines bite chunks out of the countryside. Disabled with rheumatoid arthritis from an early age, Burra barely went to school and so escaped the Edwardian upper class upbringing that would otherwise have been his destiny. At once camp yet apparently celibate, Burra was intensely private and disliked talking about either himself or art - or, as he called it, "fart". Matthew Parris chairs the discussion, and is joined by Burra's biographer Jane Stevenson. Producer: Jolyon Jenkins First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2014.

Jonathan Meades on Edward Burra

Peter Gabriel

With John Wilson. Peter Gabriel's latest project was inspired by his 2010 CD Scratch My Back, in which he gave an orchestral treatment to some of his favourite artists' songs. The former Genesis frontman discusses his new album New Blood, in which he gives highlights from his own solo back-catalogue a similar makeover, including Don't Give Up and Solsbury Hill. Doctor Who's Karen Gillan makes her professional stage debut in a new production of John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence, which stars the Olivier and Tony award-winning actor Douglas Hodge in the massive central role of a disintegrating middle-aged lawyer, clinging to the human wreckage he's left in his wake. Sarah Churchwell reviews. The first major show for over 25 years of the work of surrealist painter Edward Burra opens this weekend. Despite suffering with acute arthritis so that his hands could hardly hold the brush, Burra is one of the most original 20th century British artists, fascinated by the seedy side of life, and inspired by a mixture of old masters and the pop culture of jazz and Hollywood films. John reports from Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Gus Van Sant, whose films include Good Will Hunting and Milk, has now directed Restless, the tale of a terminally-ill girl who befriends a funeral gate-crashing drop-out. Starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper, the film has divided critics in America. Antonia Quirke gives her verdict.Producer Nicki Paxman.

With John Wilson. Peter Gabriel's latest project was inspired by his 2010 CD Scratch My Back, in which he gave an orchestral treatment to some of his favourite artists' songs. The former Genesis frontman discusses his new album New Blood, in which he gives highlights from his own solo back-catalogue a similar makeover, including Don't Give Up and Solsbury Hill. Doctor Who's Karen Gillan makes her professional stage debut in a new production of John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence, which stars the Olivier and Tony award-winning actor Douglas Hodge in the massive central role of a disintegrating middle-aged lawyer, clinging to the human wreckage he's left in his wake. Sarah Churchwell reviews. The first major show for over 25 years of the work of surrealist painter Edward Burra opens this weekend. Despite suffering with acute arthritis so that his hands could hardly hold the brush, Burra is one of the most original 20th century British artists, fascinated by the seedy side of life, and inspired by a mixture of old masters and the pop culture of jazz and Hollywood films. John reports from Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Gus Van Sant, whose films include Good Will Hunting and Milk, has now directed Restless, the tale of a terminally-ill girl who befriends a funeral gate-crashing drop-out. Starring Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper, the film has divided critics in America. Antonia Quirke gives her verdict. Producer Nicki Paxman.

Peter Gabriel; Edward Burra

Edward Burra's paintings of Harlem in the 1930s captured a moment in history epitomised by Jazz and street life. Drawing on the special display in the Goodison room, this study afternoon will examine Burra's paintings of this period with talks by artist a

The Life and Times of Edward Burra