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§ Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975) Encounter No. 1 signed and dated 'Michael Ayrton 47' (upper right) oil on board 20.50 x 14.50cm (8 x 6in) Provenance: The Redfern Gallery, London, 1949 Other Notes: Michael Ayrton first made his name as a painter, associated with the wartime British Neo?Romantics alongside Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Paul Nash. Yet his reputation today rests largely on his work as a sculptor of large, figurative bronzes related to Greek mythology and, in particular, the Minotaur. The painting, 'Encounter', completed in 1948 and exhibited at the Redfern Gallery the following year, records an interesting and important stage in the shift of vision which started him on this apparently unusual career path. In 1947, as soon as the wartime travel restrictions were lifted, Ayrton made his first visit to Italy where, in his own words 'he fell deeply under the spell of the early Renaissance. Masaccio and Piero della Francesca became supremely important' (Michael Ayrton, 'Drawings and Sculpture', [Cory, Adams & Mackay], 1966). He became fascinated by the intricate perspective and expressive geometry of their work, as well as by the countryside in which they had lived and which they had painted. Arriving in Rome, he travelled widely: south to Naples then north to Genoa and Florence, by train or coach as opportunity or convenience dictated, seeking out everywhere the images of masters who inspired him. Most of the paintings which emerged from these travels are of sun-drenched beaches and hill towns set in countryside bleached by the harsh, Mediterranean light. Among these, 'Encounter' stands out by virtue of its comparatively sombre palette and distinctly urban setting. It is probably a memory of the port of Livorno, through which Ayrton passed on the Naples to Genoa coach. Today a thriving port serving the cruise ships bringing tourists to Florence, Livorno, in the years immediately following the War, was a desolate place, heavily bombed by the Allies; its docks may well have reminded Ayrton of the Thames foreshore which he had been painting extensively in the months leading up to his departure. 'Encounter' provides us with an image both timeless and yet also distinctively modern: unlike the fishermen of Ischia or the vine-cutters of the Tuscan hills, these figures could only exist in the twentieth century - and in doing so, they mark the beginning of Ayrton's realisation that wherever his inspirations might come from 'I have to use the data in my own time and the result has to be of my own time. The time shift simply provides part of the equation' (Michael Ayrton, 'A Silence Filled with Greek' in John Matthews, Labrys 3: Michael Ayrton issue, 1978). It was a recognition which would fuel all his later work as he plunged ever deeper into the mythical world of Ancient Greece, while keeping his feet and his imagination firmly rooted in the currents and dilemmas of contemporary life. In the year that 'Encounter' was completed, Ayrton visited Pisa, where he encountered the work of the 14th century master, Giovanni Pisano, and for the first time began seriously to consider making sculpture of his own. That his painting was already itself becoming increasingly sculptural is apparent from this painting: it is not large, yet the figures have a monumentality which belies their actual dimensions, and the way in which their bodies relate to each other - the tensions generated between them, and within the intricately orchestrated objects and spaces around them - creates the illusion of three dimensions within two with absolute conviction. By the 1950s, Ayrton would come to feel that his figures had become too solid for their support and the frustration would propel him finally into his first sculptures, but in 'Encounter' the balance remains exact and expressive: a frozen moment that might indeed have been glimpsed from the window of a passing coach and of exactly the kind he had described with reference to Piero and Masaccio, enigmatic and impersonal, yet with a compelling reality about setting and figures which presents us with a story commanding our interest even though we cannot know its details. We are grateful to Justine Hopkins for her kind assistance with this catalogue entry.Oil on hardboard. Paint layer is in a good condition. Around the edges there is an uneven surface texture - probably caused by another painting on hardboard being leant against the work before the paint had dried. Between the figure's heads there is a matte area of paint which fluoresces dark under UV - this is likely to be retouching.

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