Beard of the Week XLVI: Far from Kansas

The week's BoW entry is a special treat and a BoW first: a guest entry written by Mel, The Indextrious Reader and friend of this blog. Thanks Mel!

This week's beard belongs to artist Virgil Burnett (born in Kansas in 1928). A real Renaissance man, he began his career as a student at Columbia University in New York, continuing as a graduate student at the University of California in Berkeley.

His early focus was illustration; he worked in the propaganda office during WWII after being drafted; after the war he began working commercially. One of his many jobs was providing cover art for those very recognizable Penguin paperbacks. His cover for War of the Worlds was part of the inspiration for the art design of the latest movie made from this story.

He has led a fascinating life, with years in Paris and the US among some big names in the arts community, both visual artists and poets such as James Merrill and Daryl Hine. While teaching at the University of Chicago, he was involved with the creation of Pasdeloup Press, a small imprint which he brought with him when he moved to Canada in the 1970s.

In Canada he established himself as a professor at the University of Waterloo. During his time there he continued producing his own artwork, meticulously detailed images of fantastic medievalism.

He also found time to write many works, including a novel, Towers at the Edge of a World (1983), and a short story collection, Farewell Tour (1987), as well as a novella and some biographical works, and always, more illustration. More recently he has published a rollicking memoir, The Old Met, les Halles and other Losses (2005), which details his years in Paris. Just this month a novel entitled Scarbo Edge: a Romaunt has been released. Since his retirement from Waterloo he has also become well known for his terra cotta sculptures.

In 2006 the National Library of Canada curated a retrospective of his work in books and illustration; it was a multifaceted presentation of some of the projects he’s been involved with over his long and distinguished career. He’s worked as an illustrator, a sculptor, a teacher, an author, an editor, and a publisher with his own Pasdeloup Press.

And beyond all that accomplishment he is also a true gentleman; brilliantly educated, a marvelous conversationalist, worldly and well-traveled.

Posted on August 25, 2008 at 03.00 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books

6 Responses

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  1. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Monday, 25 August 2008 at 15.52
    Permalink

    Yes, thanks Mel. I was an English major at the University of Waterloo. Unfortunately, that was 1962-1966, before Professor Burnett came to the department. Now I'm going to have to go through all the Penguin paperbacks on my shelves (and there are a few) to see if any of the cover illustrations are his.

  2. Written by jns
    on Monday, 25 August 2008 at 16.07
    Permalink

    Thanks for the personal report, Bill. We will, of course, be waiting to hear back on the question of the Penguin covers.

  3. Written by Bill Morrison
    on Tuesday, 26 August 2008 at 16.00
    Permalink

    All but one of my Penguin set of Evelyn Waugh's novels were printed in the late 1970s. They have cover designs by "Bentley/Farrell/Burnett". I'm assuming the last-named is Virgil Burnett.

    (The exception is "Scoop" which is a 1969 reprint, and is a grey-covered "Penguin Modern Classic" rather than the standard orange-covered Penguin Fiction.)

  4. Written by Melanie
    on Sunday, 7 September 2008 at 23.32
    Permalink

    I only have a couple of Penguins myself; nice to hear that there are a few in your collection, Bill!
    I always look forward to the Beard of the Week, thanks for letting me contribute, Jeff.

  5. […] Click on the photograph and you'll see that the birds are made up of teeny tiny little birds. Virgil Burnett is the illustrator and I was rather amused to learn that he's even been awarded beard of the week! […]

  6. […] While an old Penguin copy of Don't Look Now has continued to evade me, I do have this 1963 edition of The Birds and Other Stories. The illustrator of this wonderful cover is Virgil Burnett and the eagle head is made up of flocks of tiny little birds. I was rather amused to learn that Burnett has even been awarded beard of the week! […]

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