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JAMES HYMAN GALLERY
Michael Ayrton (1921-1975)
Please scroll down for further information. Michael Ayrton (1921-1975) Portrait of Wyndham Lewis </I>Signed and dated <I>Michael Ayrton 21.1.55</I> Charcoal on Paper 30 x 45 cms (11¾ x 17¾ inches) 1955 This drawing for Michael Ayrton's Portrait of Wyndham Lewis in the National Portrait Gallery, London testifies to the close friendship and deep admiration that the two artist-writers had for each other, following their first meeting in 1946. Justine Hopkins in the biography of her step father, Michael Ayrton, writes that this portrait was painted late in Wyndham Lewis's life when, by now almost blind and wearing both glasses and an eye shield, he was living in a decrepit flat at the top of a condemned house in Notting Hill Gate: `Over the months of early 1955 Michael became very familiar with the sight of Lewis slumped in the dark blue armchair, which since his blindness, was the only place where he was really comfortable. The eleven images of Lewis in various media which Michael made signalled another one of those involvements so intimate as to border on the obsessional which throughout his life accounted for his finest work. Later he felt it to be the best portrait he had ever made.' Justine Hopkins, Michael Ayrton. A Biography, Andre Deutsch, London, 1994, pp.208-210 This item is sold. Please click here if you wish to buy or sell a work by this artist. | ||||||||
