Description:

Byron Burford
American, 1920-2011
The Tournabouni Twins, 1983
Aquatint, signed and titled, edition of 250
Two young women back-to-back in matching kimono wielding crosses, unframed.

Byron Leslie Burford, Jr., born July 12, 1920, in Jackson, Mississippi, blossomed as a young artist
in a fascination with the carnivals and circuses booked by his YMCA director father, before leaving at age 14 to work as a roadie for the Tom Mix Circus, all the while using his exposure to circus life as inspiration for his work.

Burford studied at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, where he mentored by Grant Wood. In 1941 Burford completed a commission for the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture, a mural for the U.S. post office in Houston, Mississippi. He received his bachelor's degree in 1942 and, after a brief stint in the Air Corps during Word War II, completed his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1947. He would continue at University of Iowa for 38 years as a painting instructor - developing a camaraderie with Kurt Vonnegut, who taught at the Iowa Writers' Workshop for two years in the 1960s.

Burford's academic success did not defer him from his aesthetic interest in circus life, and continued to subject soldiers, athletes, jazz musicians, factory workers and circus people in his work. A well-known artist in the Midwest, Burford exhibited widely and received many honors and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1960 and a grant from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in 1967.

  • Provenance: Ex Iowa Wesleyan University collection
  • Dimensions: Plate: 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. (34.9 x 27.3 cm.), sheet: 20 1/2 x 15 in. (52.1 x 38.1 cm.)
  • Medium: Aquatint, signed and titled, edition of 250
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July 15, 2023 10:00 AM CDT
St. Louis, MO, US

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