Hermione Burton

b. 1926, United Kingdom
d. 2007

Hermione Burton was born Hermione Quilter in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1925. One of twelve children, her childhood was a happy one, until diagnosed with the rheumatic heart disease which was to plague her throughout her life.
 
In 1952 Hermione took over the running of a guest house in Ramsgate, where she met and married an American serviceman, James W Hailey. On completion of his tour of England, the couple moved to America, living on military bases in Michigan, New Mexico and California.
 
In America Hermione’s health deteriorated; until, following the birth of her daughter Jacqueline, she went into a coma and almost died. She subsequently became one of the first patients in the country to undergo what was then experimental open-heart surgery. Hermione survived, and it was during her recovery that she attended occupational therapy classes and began to paint in oils. These early compositions depicted the major events of her life and often included herself and her immediate family.

According to Hermione, it was Tom Jones singing Green Green Grass of Home on TV which prompted her to divorce her husband and leave America. She returned home to Aylesbury, and within six years had met and married her third husband, Frank Burton. The couple moved to Bedford in 1979, where she began to promote her paintings and portraits locally. Hermione’s health continued to decline. Although doctors feared she might not survive the next winter, Hermione again received life-saving heart surgery and made a full recovery.

It was at this point that Hermione’s imagery took a notable turn. Memory paintings emerged, imaginative pictures with a dream-like quality. Together with her daughter Jacqui, who now painted in a similar style to her mother, Hermione attended the Bedford Art Society, seeking an audience for her work; and mother and daughter now appeared at art events together, Hermione regularly adopting her signature red beret. Hermione’s work came to the attention of James Lynch, an established portraitist and teacher. He instigated an exhibition at The Gallery in Wellingborough in 1987, which featured paintings by both mother and daughter. Within a short time, however, Hermione’s only daughter passed away unexpectedly. Hermione continued to paint, including a memorable and surreal series of dark floating heads entitled Phoenix Rising from the Ashes. She was never to exhibit again.

CV