Blues for Ruby Matrix

This drawing illustrates a poem by Burra’s friend Conrad Aiken in which the speaker describes a woman who has left him. A woman in a tight dress and fur stole stands at a counter and sips a drink under the eager gaze of several men. Burra’s work often presents the seedier side of urban life, but he frequented the same bars, nightclubs, and drag shows he painted, enjoying the freedom they offered. With its bright palette, this scene evokes the vibrant nightlife Burra experienced in Harlem, which he visited in 1933. Burra was one of the few white artists of his day to depict Black culture without the stereotypes widespread in media at the time (2022).