Early life Geoffrey Burnand was born in
Hastings,
Sussex to an English father, a
Colonel in the
British Army, and an Irish mother. His first noted ambition was at the age of six, when he wished to be a
composer. His father was not keen on such an idea, as alluded to in Geoffrey's later recollection of his father's reaction when his ambitions turned towards painting: "My father agreed I could become a painter because he felt there was more chance of making a career in that field." His love of classical music would remain and serve as the basis for a series of later
expressionist paintings, particularly after 1980.
Education Geoffrey attended the
Imperial Service College,
Windsor until the age of 14½ when an agreement with his father enabled him to leave for
Farnham School of Art,
Farnham, Surrey. "We struck a bargain and I think it was a fair one. I could train to be a painter as long as I didn't let my hair grow long or let any of my funny friends from the Royal Academy walk across his barrack square."
Further travel The Prix de Rome award, in addition to providing a scholarship to the British School at Rome, also provided Geoffrey with the funds to make several study trips to Germany in the early-mid 1930s. It was on these trips he discovered the works of the German expressionist artists
George Grosz,
Franz Marc and
Max Beckmann, the latter of whom he met in person during a trip to Berlin. He found considerable stimulus in their work and the influence of it latterly informed much of his own.
Military service At the outbreak of the
Second World War, Burnand returned to England and was ushered into the
army. Having spent most of the previous few years of his life in Italy and Germany, it was difficult to now consider them enemies. He would later say "Then I had to go and fight them. Didn't think much of that." Following his attendance of
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Burnand was commissioned and would go on to become a
captain and serve in his father's old regiment until the conclusion of the war in 1945. During this period, he produced sketches and drawings of some of the troubling sights he encountered but only painted during periods of leave.
Scenic painting When
demobbed, Geoffrey was determined not to return home without first obtaining a job. He went to his local
rep, the Little Theatre in Nottingham (later to become the Nottingham Playhouse) and became a
scenic painter. He had no prior experience of scenic painting but was hired on the basis of photographs of his work. While employed there he would have to paint up to three different sets every Sunday. Similar work followed at various other rep theatres including the
Liverpool Playhouse and
Royal Hippodrome Theatre in
Eastbourne. Regard for Burnand's work in the medium was sufficiently high for him to be hired to work at a number of famous
opera houses, including the
Royal Opera House in the London district of
Covent Garden,
Glyndebourne opera house near
Lewes in East Sussex, and the
Teatro di San Carlo opera house in
Naples,
Italy, on a production of
Boris Godunov. He also worked on various
panto productions and variety shows at the
London Palladium and painted the original sets for a production of
My Fair Lady in
New York City, from designs by
Cecil Beaton. ==References==