Michael Ayrton
Born 1921
Died 1975
Active: 1941 - 1942
Country of birth and death: England
Painter, sculptor, theatre designer, illustrator, writer
Born London. Painter, theatre designer, illustrator, writer. Started to make sculpture mid-1950s. Travelled widely in Europe. Studied art at St. John’s Wood School of Art. Worked as commercial artist. Shared studio with John Minton in Paris in 1939. Invalided out of Royal Air Force 1942. Taught drawing and theatre design at Camberwell School of Art 1942-44. Art critic for The Spectator 1944-46.
Exhibitions include: Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 1955 (solo); Leicester Galleries, London 1957, 59 (solos); The Religious Theme, Tate Gallery, London 1958; Main Street Gallery, Chicago 1960 (solo).
Collections include: Tate Gallery; Arts Council; Victoria & Albert Museum; British Museum; National Portrait Gallery; Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.
Further reading: J. Hopkins, Michael Ayrton, A Biography, (London: Andre Deutsch, 1994)
Michael Ayrton, Recurring Themes and Images, Bruton Gallery, Bruton, Somerset, 28 May – 2 May 1981, (exh. cat.).
P. Cannon-Brookes, Michael Ayrton – An Illustrated Commentary, (Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 1978).
Biography from Whiteley (2001)
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
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Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at New Movements in Art (Manchester City Art Gallery), 1942
Multiple works
Sources
Catalogue of New Movements in Art, 1942
1942
Cat. Nos. 39, 40, 41, p. 7
Directory of sculptors working and exhibiting in Britain in the 1950s, by Gillian Whiteley
2001
pp. 3-4
Citing this record
'Michael Ayrton', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1235409777, accessed 30 Mar 2023]
