This vibrant and playful Velvet Cushion Cover by House of Voltaire features a whimsical illustration by Beryl Cook, depicting people with various hairstyles, some being styled or combed. The diverse expressions and interactions bring colour to life on the front, while the back of the cushion is an orange-red velvet.

Beryl Cook

Velvet Cushion Cover

£45

Velvet cushion covers featuring iconic artworks by Beryl Cook, exclusive to House of Voltaire. Available individually or as a set of three. 

Dimensions

45 x 45 cm

Finishing

Velvet cushion cover with zip closure

Please note this product comes without a cushion insert unless specified at checkout

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      The Velvet Cushion Cover by House of Voltaire features an illustration by Beryl Cook of cartoon-style women in traditional black and white maid uniforms with high heels. The backside of the pillow features a black velvet, also lining the edges.
      A Velvet Cushion Cover by House of Voltaire showcases an illustration by Beryl Cook depicting a lively social scene with animated, exaggerated characters. The underside of the pillow features a pink velvet, also lining the edges of the pillow.

      Courtesy the artist's estate

      About The Artwork

      This trio of velvet cushions features three iconic works by Beryl Cook and has been made exclusively for House of Voltaire to coincide with Studio Voltaire’s major exhibition ‘Beryl Cook / Tom of Finland’, bringing together the work of these two cultural icons for the very first time. Choose between Girls Night Out’, ‘Ivor Dickie’ and ‘Hair Bells’, or make a statement with all three.

      About Beryl Cook

      Beryl Cook (1926–2008) was one of Britain’s best-loved artists. A self-taught painter, Cook is renowned for her exuberant style and explorations of English cultural identity and everyday life. Portrayed with defiance, her work can be understood as engaging with ideas around ‘female camp’, class and pleasure. Additionally, they can be contextualised within contemporary body positivity movements. Her larger-sized, usually jovial characters celebrate bigger bodies and inclusivity.

      Cook's most celebrated and enduring images are of larger-than-life women carousing in nightclubs, eating in cafés or enjoying ribald hen parties. Though the women in Cook’s works embody comedic or bawdy qualities, they command the space of her paintings in complex, vivid and entirely believable portraits that draw from keenly observed social interactions.

      Today, her works are held in the collections of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow, the Bristol City Museum of Art Gallery, and the Plymouth City Art Gallery, among others. The artist has received retrospective exhibitions at Baltic Centre of Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2007); Plymouth City Art Gallery, Plymouth (2017); and A.H.F.T.A.W, New York (2022).