![[title not known] by Edward Burra](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd2w8kbdekdi1gv.cloudfront.net%2FeyJidWNrZXQiOiAiYXJ0ZXJhLWltYWdlcy1idWNrZXQiLCAia2V5IjogImFydHdvcmtzLzcwYjZlODMzLThiZDItNDdmYy1iOWZjLTQ1ODZhMmQzYjEyYi83MGI2ZTgzMy04YmQyLTQ3ZmMtYjlmYy00NTg2YTJkM2IxMmJfZnVsbC5qcGciLCAiZWRpdHMiOiB7InJlc2l6ZSI6IHsid2lkdGgiOiAxOTIwLCAiaGVpZ2h0IjogMTkyMCwgImZpdCI6ICJpbnNpZGUifX19&w=3840&q=75)
Dimensions: support: 1022 x 698 mm frame: 1120 x 792 x 36 mm
Copyright: © Tate | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This untitled watercolor by Edward Burra shows figures in both a stark foreground and a receding, classical architecture. The red figures in the foreground are quite unsettling. What do you make of this rather bizarre scene? Curator: Bizarre is spot on. Burra was drawn to the strange and the grotesque. Here, the compressed space and clashing scales create a sort of fever dream. The figures, are they praying, or are they trapped? Editor: Trapped, maybe? I didn't even notice the skeleton lurking on the stairs there. Curator: Exactly! It's this unease, this sense of something not quite right, that makes Burra so compelling. I wonder, what's the story behind that long corridor? Is it heaven, or a dead end? Editor: I find myself pondering that very question now. Definitely a lot to think about with this piece.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/burra-title-not-known-n05165
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With the increasingly belligerent political situation of the 1930s, Burra's work took on a darker tone. This enigmatic diptych seems to speak of morbidity and decay. The shrouded figures look down on a skeleton in an open grave. In the background broken columns indicate the degradation of the building. The architecture recalls the destroyed churches that Burra photographed in Spain in 1935 and 1936. The Spanish Civil War had been especially cruel, but by the time this picture was made war had spread across Europe. Goya's 'Dark Paintings' may have been a source for such works. Gallery label, August 2004
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