Blues for Ruby Matrix

Maker Edward Burra (British, 1905 - 1976)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Dateca. 1934

MediumOpaque watercolor (?) on wove paper mounted on board

Dimensions22 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. (57.2 x 45.1 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextThis drawing illustrates a poem by Burra’s friend Conrad Aiken in which the speaker describes a woman who has left him. A woman in a tight dress and fur stole stands at a counter and sips a drink under the eager gaze of several men. Burra’s work often presents the seedier side of urban life, but he frequented the same bars, nightclubs, and drag shows he painted, enjoying the freedom they offered. With its bright palette, this scene evokes the vibrant nightlife Burra experienced in Harlem, which he visited in 1933. Burra was one of the few white artists of his day to depict Black culture without the stereotypes widespread in media at the time (2022).

Object number75.50

Exhibitions

20th Century British Works on Paper