Michael Andrews

     

Michael Andrews. Lovers. 1956. Oil on board, 15 x 19.7 cm
Collection: Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales
Copyright the Estate of Michael Andrews, courtesy James Hyman Gallery, London.

Extracts from a journal

 Noel McCready

............I felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of images available and thought how much easier the whole exercise would have been if we had been given a restricted list of (say) a dozen works to choose from.  There were no Manets, Vuillards, Gauguins that interested me, so I hunted about for inspiration.. The difficulty was that the “masterpieces” were so

compleat and definitive that making a transcription seemed pointless  (………………..)

I looked at and sketched mainly from respectable but minor landscapes from the 17th and 18th centuries and was particularly taken by a Daumier, (a grand horse)

      On the train journey home and during the next few days my thoughts became occupied by a small painting,  “ Lovers “ by Michael Andrews (1956).  It is so understated and mysterious and suggestive that it seems to offer lots of scope for variations.                  So that is my final choice.       It is tiny, 8ins by 6ins. One of the smallest painting in the gallery, but it engaged me….I feel at home with it.

continued on Noel's page