| Michael Ayrton | |
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Sculpture of Talos on Guildhall Street in Cambridge |
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| Born | Michael A. Gould 20 February 1921 St Pancras, London, England |
| Died | 17 November 1975 (aged 54) Hampstead, London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | artist, writer, painter, printmaker, sculptor, critic, broadcaster and novelist |
| Spouse | Elisabeth Evelyn Balchin née Walshe (1910-1991) (m. 1956–1975) |
| Parents | Gerald Gould & Barbara Ayrton |
Michael Ayrton (20 February 1921 – 17 November 1975) was an English artist and writer, known as a painter, printmaker and sculptor, and also as a critic, broadcaster and novelist. He was a stage and costume designer, working with John Minton on the 1942 John Gielgud production of Macbeth from age 19; and a book designer and illustrator, for Wyndham Lewis's The Human Age trilogy and William Golding. He also collaborated with Constant Lambert. His work is in several important collections including the Tate Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Fry Art Gallery, Essex.
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Beginning in 1961, Michael Ayrton wrote and created many works associated with the myths of the Minotaur and Daedalus, the legendary inventor and maze builder, including bronze sculpture and the pseudo-autobiographical novel "The Maze Maker" (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967). He also wrote and illustrated "Tittivulus Or The Verbiage Collector", an account of the efforts of a minor devil to collect idle words. He was the author of several non-fiction works on fine art, including "Aspects of British Art" (Collins, 1947) [1].
Ayrton was born Michael A. Gould in St Pancras, London [2], his parents being Gerald Gould and Barbara Ayrton; he took his mother's maiden name professionally. In 1952, he married Elisabeth Evelyn Walshe (1910-1991), the former wife of author Nigel Balchin [3]. Elisabeth Ayrton was a novelist and writer on cookery. He died in 1975 at Hampstead, London shortly after an entertaining meeting with two young artists from Chingford [4].
In 1977 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery organised a major retrospective exhibition of his work which subsequently went on tour. [5]
Several paintings are currently on display in the Old Bank Hotel in Oxford.