Christopher Dawson
Head of Department
Lot 95AR
Michael Ayrton(British, 1921-1975)Acrobats II, Variant II 134.6 cm. (53 in.) high (including the base)
19 June 2024, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£7,000 - £10,000
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Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975)
Acrobats II, Variant II
bronze with a dark brown patina on a wooden base
134.6 cm. (53 in.) high (including the base)
Conceived in 1958
bronze with a dark brown patina on a wooden base
134.6 cm. (53 in.) high (including the base)
Conceived in 1958
Footnotes
Provenance
With Christopher Hull Gallery, London
Literature
Peter Cannon-Brookes, Michael Ayrton, Birmingham Museums and Art Galleries, Birmingham, 1978, p.65, cat.no.113 (ill.b&w, another cast)
Michael Ayrton, Michael Ayrton, Drawings and Sculpture, Cory, Adams & Mackay Ltd, 1962, p.50, cat.no.49, (ill.b&w, another cast)
The 'Figures in Balance' series, to which Acrobats II belongs, was the first sculpture series Ayrton produced, and includes some of the earliest sculptures he made. The logic of anatomy always fascinated him, and these bronzes, with their complex articulation of bones and joints in bodies under tension while at the same time in a state of equilibrium, allowed him to explore the paradox at the heart of sculpture: the freezing of a moment into permanent form. No human acrobats, however expert, could sustain the pose of Ayrton's Acrobats for more than a brief space of time; the sculptures will hold it forever.
The relationships of time, space and sculpture was something that would continue to intrigue and inspire Ayrton, but this particular series had an additional, personal dimension. For much of his life he suffered from ankylosing spondalitis, an arthritic condition of the spine which made physical movement difficult and often painful. 'I am in no doubt' he commented later, 'that these [figures] were my substitutes for action at the time.'
The first casts of Acrobats II stood on a solid bronze podium; for Variant II this was changed to a long-legged stand, which Ayrton felt counterpointed the tension of the figures more effectively.
We are grateful to Justine Hopkins for compiling this catalogue entry.
