Figure and landscape painter, mainly in oil, and teacher. Born in London into a wealthy family, Burn went to Harrow School, then after a period in the Army during World War I he attended the Slade School under Henry Tonks, Walter Russell and Philip Wilson Steer. At the Slade he had a brilliant career, winning six major prizes between 1918–22, and he merited an article on him while still a student in the Burlington Magazine. Married the sculptor Margaret Sharwood-Smith. Held several teaching posts, at the Royal College of Art before and after World War II, at the City and Guilds School and at Camberwell School of Art. From 1931–4 he and the painter Robin Guthrie were appointed joint directors of painting and drawing at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, in America.