#michael ayrton

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Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975), Elysian Self-portrait (Midday), 1949. Oil on panel, 10 x 14 in.

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Ray Bradbury - Dark Carnival. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1948. First British edition. Octavo.

Art by Michael Ayrton.

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Michael Ayrton - Black Still Life - Ram Skull III (1959)

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Michael Ayrton (British,1921-1975)

Study on the theme of Temptation of St Anthony, 1943

ink, pastel, watercolour and gouache

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Michael Ayrton Roman Window 1950

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(via Michael Ayrton (1921 – 1975) - all things amazing —)

Michael Ayrton

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Three Plays by Euripides

In the ancient city of Athens, every two years a festival called the Dionysia would be held in honor of the god Dionysus. Established by the tyrant Pisistratus in the mid-6th century BCE, the event saw processions, feasting, and plays in both comedy and tragedy and it is here that the the young Euripides got his start as a tragedian. Starting with the 455BCE Dionysia and continuing until 408BCE, Euripides competed in a plethora of drama competitions and wrote many tragedies, most of which did not survive to the modern day. Of the ones that did survive, three tend to stand out as the pinnacle of the tragedian’s work; Medea, Hippolytus, and The Bacchae.

Special Collections holds various editions of these plays, with some books presenting them separately and others having them compiled together. The book I worked from is of the latter category, being translated by the English classical scholar Philip Vellacott, illustrated by British artist and designer Michael Ayrton, and published by The Limited Editions Club in 1967. The edition was printed in London at the Curwen Press in a limited edition of 1500 signed by the artist, designed by printer and type designer Will Carter and with Ayrton’s drawings reproduced in Moonachie, New Jersey by the Photogravure and Color Company.

Despite the reputation Ancient Greek tragedies have received for their gruesomeness and brutality, death itself is absent from the stage. Though we may see a character going to their death or their bodies after the fact, there are no surviving Ancient Greek plays that show the moment of death. Euripides tended to employ two different techniques when conveying death; the first is having another character tell the audience or another character how the death occurred, and the other is having the actors shouting what is happening offstage for the audience to hear. The former of these two were greatly favored in the three great plays of Euripides for good reason; it allowed the emotion of the characters to shine through. The three different messengers speak of fear, pain, and grief in a way that no action could depict. It's possible to say that the absence of death in the plays of Euripides made death all the more real.

View more of my Classics posts.

View more Limited Edition Club posts.

– LauraJean, Special Collections Undergraduate Classics Intern

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Daily Painting

Michael Ayrton JOHN GIELGUD AS MACBETH (1942)

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Minotaur Suite, Michael Ayrton (1921-1975)

Minotaur as Embryo, 1971

Minotaur Consecrated, 1971

Minotaur as Calf, 1971

Minotaur as Yearling, 1971

Minotaur Rising, 1971

Minotaur Risen, 1971

Minotaur Full-Grown, 1971

Minotaur Pent, 1971

Minotaur Revealed, 1971

Minotaur Alone, 1971

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Michael Ayrton (British, b. 1921)

Minotaur Revealed, 1971

Etching on paper

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Michael Ayrton

some Michael Ayrton minotaurs

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Michael Ayrton (British, 1921-1975), Encounter No. 1, 1947. Oil on board, 20.5 x 14.5 cm. Jerwood Collection

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i posted the gif with the ayrton and mika part but so much happens in this video is unbelievable

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Michael Ayrton - Antigone (1942)

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Michael Ayrton (British,1921-1975)

Gethsemane

oil on board

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Michael Ayrton The Fortune Teller 1941

Michael Ayrton (Brirish, 1921–1975). The Fortune Teller.