REFLECTION OF FLIGHT
Michael Ayrton
1975
Height: 28cm
No. 1 of an edition of 12
Michael Ayrton was a multi-talented man; he was a sculptor, painter, printmaker of figures and landscapes; illustrator, draughtsman, theatrical designer; film-maker, writer and art critic. He studied at art schools in London, lived in Vienna in 1936 and between 1937 and 1939 spent long periods in France, sharing a studio with John Minton in Paris where they studied with Eugene Berman.
He also worked in Chirico's studio and in 1938 went to Les Baux with Minton and Michael Middleton. He travelled widely through out his life, particularly in France, Italy and Greece and first exhibited with Minton in 1942 at the Leicester Galleries. He subsequently showed regularly in London galleries and internationally. His work is represented in public collections including the Tate Gallery and MOMA, New York. Ayrton illustrated many books and his interest in theatre design was stimulated by collaborations with Minton and Constant Lambert.
He began to sculpt in bronze in the early 1950s receiving some advice from Henry Moore and visited Greece in 1958, turning to Greek myth as his principal source of inspiration particularly the legends of Daedelus and Icarus, the Minotaur and the image of the maze. His powerful style sought to reinterpret mythological ideas in terms of the figure.
Provenance
Family of the artist
Literature
Homage to Michael Ayrton, RS Johnson International, Chicago 1984