Somerset, Hestercombe Gallery, A Personal Passion, 25 April – 5 July 2015;
Aberystwyth, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, The Human Face, 27 January – 12 March 2016;
Woking, The Lightbox, John Minton and the Romantic Tradition, 28 January 2017 – 9 March 2017;
Woking, The Lightbox, Celebrating Michael Ayrton: A Centenary Exhibition, 29 May – 8 August 2021
This work is one of a series of figure compositions Ayrton painted on moving from London to Essex in 1952. The purpose of this relocation had been to find a larger space in which to begin experimenting with sculpture. However, upon arrival he embarked on a series of figurative pictures. This picture demonstrates this new sculptural interest through the folds of the towel falling over the knee and the pose of the figure. Whilst travelling in Naples, Florence and Rome, Ayrton often sketched street children. This would have informed the rendering of the child depicted in Clothes Horse. His figures were often a blend of the real and imagined and it is likely that his youngest step-daughter posed for this work.
