Best Of British Artists: Doug Hyde, Peter Smith & Beryl Cook

Many events have happened in the 20th Century, the space race, evolutions in technology and the civil rights movement. We, the human race have a lot to be proud of. We don’t always make the right decisions, we as a species have been extremely creative in all areas of our lives from art to music and acting.

Art has really shone in the 20th Century as it became part of our everyday lives as more everyday people became excited by art and as many couldn’t afford originals they wanted prints. In the past art was reserved for royalty and the rich, but in the 20th Century art became more readily available as well as more acceptable for normal people.

Doug Hyde was born in 1972 and he has made a big name for himself for a reasonably young man as the BBC named him the UK’s Best Selling Artist. His technique is fairly simple, he is inspired by the emotions he has felt in certain situations and this is what has made Doug Hyde prints so popular. As well as producing prints he is also a respected sculptor, producing sculptures that follow the same themes and often feature similar characters featured in his canvas artwork.

Peter Smith is an artist from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire. The career path of Peter Smith has been a varied path working as a IT programmer and a graphic designer in the fashion market. Peter Smith prints can be inspired by the likes of Dali as a portion of his art features surreal ideas and imagery. Peter Smith prints also feature animal characters which have been dubbed impossimals,that look like a mix between a hippo and a zebra. These creatures have become very popular in both print and sculpture forms.

Beryl Cook was an artist hailing from Plymouth, Devon in the UK who sadly died earlier this year. Beryl was originally from Surrey and in her youth spent time travelling as a showgirl before having a job in the fashion industry and then settling in Plymouth with her husband John Cook. Her art is well known for featuring depictions of every day life and the people of Plymouth. She would produce colourful Beryl Cook prints that focused on the activites that everyday people do, such as waiting to get on a bus or the bin men collecting the rubbish.