Art was “the foundation of life” for Mary Burkett, who has died aged 90. “Everyone’s mind needs art whether they know it or not” was her creed, and she spent her career proving this. Her energetic promotion of the arts, mainly in Cumbria and the north-west of England, was inspirational and unfaltering. Over six decades and several generations she kept the cultural wheels turning and in good repair.
She was appointed assistant director of the Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, in 1962, and was its director from 1966 to 1986, during which time she consolidated its national reputation and enlarged its collection through private donations and purchases. These included Barbara Hepworth’s Trezion, the Cumbria-based artist George Romney’s The Gower Family, and the triptych The Great Picture. Her parallel project, the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry, opened in 1971 and won the first Museum of the Year award for its flair and originality.
Continue reading...