Melanie Andrews was eight when her father, artist Michael Andrews, portrayed them both swimming in a Scottish rock pool. The painting, Melanie and Me Swimming (1978-9), has since become one of @Tate Britain's best loved images and top-selling postcards.
*
Andrews is the least known of the School of London artists - a vague term coined by RB Kitaj in 1976 to describe his figurative work and that of other artists in his circle, such as Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Freud taught Andrews at the Slade School of Art and Andrews met his wife, June, at a party at Freud's house in 1958
*
Andrews worked extremely slowly, spending on average 12 to 18 months on a painting - often one of a series - and Melanie and Me Swimming was no exception. It was based on a holiday snap from 1975, when the family took the first of many holidays at Glenartney in Scotland, which inspired much of Andrews's work (pictures of deer stalkers, for example) and where his ashes are buried. Andrews used the photograph as an aide-m?moire, changing many of the details to fit his vision, omitting, for example, the swimming costume that his daughter wore, which at the time she found mortifying. The gentle patience with which he holds her above the black chasm of limpid water, just as she starts to gain her independence, is extremely touching, as are the tones of his pale flesh, mottled with cold.
*
#art #painting #arthistory #historyofart #heartart #artlovers #paintingoftheday #artoftheday #paintings #instagramart #dailyart #dailypainting #artoninstagram #artofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #artworld
*
#instamuseum #retroart #artonpaper #oiloncanvas
#oilpainter
*
#ArchiveHoliday #HolidayActivities #summer #seasons #summerday #landscape #nature #summersky
