Michael Ayrton (20 February 1921 – 16 November 1975)T. G. Rosenthal, "Ayrton , Michael (1921–1975)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008
Retrieved 24 Jan 2015
/ref> was a British painter, printmaker, sculptor, critic, broadcaster and novelist. His sculptures, illustrations, poems and stories often focused on the subjects of flight, myths, mirrors and mazes. He was also a stage and costume designer, working with John Minton on the 1942

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

production of

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

at the age of nineteen, and a book designer and illustrator for

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''Blast (British magazine), Blast'', the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His ...

's '' The Human Age'' trilogy. An exhibition, ''Word and Image'' (National Book League, 1971), explored Lewis's and Ayrton's literary and artistic connections. He also collaborated with Constant Lambert and

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel '' Lord of the Flies'' (1954), Golding published another 12 volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 19 ...

Life and career

Michael Ayrton Geograph-398317-by-Malcolm-Morris

Ayrton was born Michael Ayrton Gould, son of the writer Gerald Gould and the Labour politician Barbara Ayrton, and took his mother's maiden name professionally. His maternal grandmother was the electrical engineer and inventor, Hertha Marks Ayrton. In his teens during the 1930s, he studied art at Heatherley School of Fine Art and St John's Wood Art School, then in Paris under Eugène Berman, where he shared a studio with John Minton. He travelled to Spain and attempted to enlist on the Republican side in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, but was rejected for being under-age.Martin Baker, ''The Art of Radio Times'', Ashmolean Museum, Oxford/Chris Beetles Limited, 2002, p. 28. In the 1940s, Ayrton participated in the BBC's radio programme '' The Brains Trust''. He married the novelist and cookery writer Elisabeth Balchin in 1942 following her divorce from Nigel Balchin a year earlier. Beginning in 1961, Michael Ayrton wrote and created many works associated with the myths of the

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

and

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

, the legendary inventor and maze builder, including bronze sculptures and the pseudo-autobiographical novel ''The Maze Maker'' (

Holt, Rinehart and Winston Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools. The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of ...

, 1967). In 1969, he designed the '' Arkville Maze.'' He also wrote and illustrated a satirical novel, ''Tittivulus or The Verbiage Collector'' (Max Reinhardt, 1953; designed by Will Carter), an account of the career of a minor devil whose original remit was to collect slovenly performances of the Divine Office in monasteries, but who develops, as the centuries pass, into a collector of all kinds of verbiage, and finally, in the modern age, mounts a fascistic revolution in Hell. Ayrton was also the author of several non-fiction works on

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

, including ''Aspects of British Art'' (Collins, 1947). Ayrton died in 1975, survived by his wife. In 1977, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery organised a retrospective exhibition of his work. His work is included in several collections including the Tate Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, London,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York, Fry Art Gallery, Essex. Ayrton's work was also featured at the Whitechapel Gallery, London, in an exhibition running from September to October 1955. In 2021, the artist's centenary year, there were exhibitions of his work (''Celebrating Michael Ayrton'' at The Lightbox Gallery, Woking, UK; ''A Singular Obsession: A Centenary Celebration of the work of Michael Ayrton'', Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden, UK; ''Michael Ayrton's Minotaur Suite'', Kruizenga Art Museum, Michigan, USA), and an illustrated monograph, ''Michael Ayrton: Ideas Images Reflections''. File:TalosCambridge.jpg, ''Talos'', Guildhall Street, Cambridge File:Icarus III by Michael Ayrton, RAF Museum 05.jpg, ''Icarus III'', Royal Air Force Museum London File:Demeter Pregnant by Michael Ayrton 02.jpg, ''Demeter Pregnant'', Reading Museum

Selected writings

* 1945: ''Poems of Death''. Verses chosen by Phoebe Pool, Lithographs by Michael Ayrton. London: Frederick Muller Ltd. * 1946: ''British Drawing''. London: Collins, ASIN B00149X1DM * 1947: ''Aspects of British Art''. London: Collins * 1953: ''Tittivulus or The Verbiage Collector''. London: Max Reinhardt * 1957: ''Golden Sections''. London: Methuen * 1962: ''The Testament of Daedalus''. London: Methuen. With a foreword by Rex Warner; reprinted, London: Robin Clark, 1991. * 1967: ''The Maze Maker: a novel''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston * 1969: ''Berlioz: A singular obsession''. London: BBC Publications * 1969: ''Giovanni Pisano: Sculptor''. London: Thames & Hudson * 1970: ''The Minotaur''. London: Genevieve Restaurants * 1971: ''The Rudiments of Paradise: Various essays on various arts''. London: Secker & Warburg * 1972: ''Fabrications''. London: Secker & Warburg / New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1973

References

External links

www.michaelayrton.com
- website of The Estate of Michael Ayrton *
Works in Tate collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayrton, Michael 1921 births 1975 deaths 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English painters 20th-century English printmakers 20th-century English sculptors Alumni of St John's Wood Art School Alumni of the Heatherley School of Fine Art British people of Polish-Jewish descent English broadcasters English male novelists English male painters English male sculptors British modern artists People from St Pancras, London Sculptors from London

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

Life and career

Selected writings

See also

References

Further reading

External links