BURRELL: PORTRAIT OF A COLLECTOR Sir William Burrell 1861 - 1958

by Richard Marks

foreword by Peter Wilson, Honorary Life President of Sotheby's

First edition published by Richard Drew Publishing Ltd, 1983

Paperback, 21 x 25 cm, 207 pages

With numerous black & white illustrations and colour plates throughout the text

ISBN 0-86267-037-3

The cover has a single crease running from top to bottom (see picture). Otherwise, the spine shows only very slight creasing and the rest of the outside of book has no more than typical moderate handling wear.

The inside of the book is unmarked. A small number of pages have minor creases to the corners but apart from this the contents remain in very good, clean condition throughout.

 

COVER NOTES 

"In 1983 the fabulous collection of objets d'art built up by Sir William Burrell went on show in its entirety for the first time, in a gallery specially designed and built to display it.

Born in Glasgow in 1861, the son of a shipping agent, Burrell made a fortune before he was forty and retired soon afterwards, to devote the rest of his long life to amassing an art collection many of whose individual parts stand comparison with the holdings of almost any museum in the world.

Burrell was however a very private man about whom, at his own request, little has been known and less written. Richard Marks, Keeper of the Burrell Collection, has from records and archives, correspondence and interviews with people who knew Burrell, charted the highlights and watersheds of his life, and untangled the tale of wrangling and misunderstanding that led only finally to the choice of a site for the Collection.

Burrell was a commercial wizard who brought his business skills and acumen to bear on his collecting. The lavishness of the interior decoration of his baronial-style mansion contrasted oddly with the Spartan regime of those who lived or stayed in it. Yet the very stories of his penny pinching illustrate one of the most significant of all his achievements - unlike, for instance, the great American collectors of his time, for example Hearst or Morgan, he did not have unlimited funds at his disposal. He was a man who was hard to get to know, loyal to those he respected, and merciless to anyone who fell out with him, as many did.

This is a unique and lavishly illustrated portrait of an extraordiniary genius, written by the person in the best position to assess and chronicle his achievements, and failings as a collector."

 

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

1. Introduction: Burrell the collector
2. Burrell family pedigree
3. Burrell and son
4. The Glasgow scene
5. Early collecting
6. Hutton Castle
7. Between the wars
8. The last years
9. Epilogue: the search for a home for the collection

Selected bibliography

Index

 

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