Michael Ayrton

Acquired from the Ayrton Estate, through The Bruton Gallery, Leeds, by the Jerwood Foundation, April 2000

London, Grosvenor Gallery, Michael Ayrton: Bronzes, Paintings, Collages, and Drawings 1962 - 1964, 29th April - 30th May 1964, cat. no.8 (another cast);
Bruton, Bruton Gallery, Michael Ayrton: Recurring Themes and Images, 28th March - 2nd May 1981, cat. no.59, with tour to National Museum of Wales, Penarth, and Pelter Sands Gallery, Bristol (another cast);
Ragley Hall, Warwickshire (September 1999 to present).

Generally the sculpture is in good overall condition. The patina is worn in one or two places and there are a few small spots of verdigris. There are spots of staining and debris, which is consistent with the piece being exhibited outside. Please telephone the department on +44 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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In the early stages of Michael Ayrton's artistic career, he put his considerable and varied talents to painting, theatre design, teaching, writing and art criticism. Against this wide-ranging background Ayrton developed his ideas, yet he remained reluctant to embrace the medium of sculpture. However, travels to Italy in the mid-1940s were particularly formative experiences, directing him towards a southern classicism which saw the imagery of his paintings become less linear and more sculptural. The end result was an eventual turn to sculpture, which Ayrton saw as the fulfilment of his drawing. It was a medium in which he had no formal training bar some valuable advice given generously and frequently by Henry Moore and a passionate study of the work of such masters as Donatello, Rodin and Degas. The transition was therefore considerable but necessary: 'I hung about on the brink of making sculpture for several uncomfortable years. My painting became a substitute for sculpture, which did it no good. It was clear to me that I must start, but it seemed to require a lot of nerve' (Michael Ayrton, Drawings and Sculpture, Cory, Adams & Mackay, London, 1962, p.25). He finally produced his first sculptures in 1953 and it was a liberation, proving a stronger medium through which to express his ideas and one that was to advance his reputation.

By the early 1960s, Ayrton was producing sculpture rooted in Greek mythology and these have become some of his most distinct works. Their origins lie in Ayrton's first visit to Cumae in 1956, the earliest Greek colony in Italy. Steeped in Greek mythology, the experience of this ancient site had a profound impact on Ayrton, inspiring themes of work which explored the myths of Daedalus and Icarus, the Minotaur and the Oracle, from which the present work is based. At Cumae, it is said the priestess Sybil presided over the Apollonian oracle among the oracular cavern which still exists below the Acropolis. Commenting on the sculpture it inspired, Ayrton wrote: 'The Minotaur evolved towards a human condition, the Oracle moved away from it towards a series of inhuman images in which her being became concentrated upon containing the prophetic voice of the god' ('Work in Progress 2: Maze Maker', Drawings and Sculpture, Cory, Adams & Mackay, London 1962). Ayrton also associated the Oracle with Demeter, goddess of grain and fertility, and her daughter Persephone who entered earth each winter and emerged in the spring, thereby confirming the changing seasons and, as Ayrton wrote, 'the perpetual passage of youth into age.' The present work displays this sense of continual change in the figure's near metamorphic state as well as her sense of helplessness as Apollo's divinely inspired medium. She appears rooted to the spot, her three-legged stool a part of her body - as appears in his depiction of the Pythian Oracle - destined to an eternity of prophesy. A tension reverberates through the sculpture and executed on the monumental scale of the present piece, it stands as one of Ayrton's most powerful works.