I last spoke to Michael earlier in the year. He was delighted to hear that Bob Benton, our former Chairman and one of the 2008 selectors, wanted to invite Michael to put six works into the 2008 Exhibition and that Mary Dodwell wanted to interview him for a feature in the DE Newsletter. We agreed to meet at the preview evening of another exhibition he was due to attend at The Mall Galleries in April and our telephone conversation ended. Unfortunately, he became far too poorly to travel from Holland, his home for the last ten years of his life and though I was able to send him my best wishes a few days before his death, we never met again.

Whilst he never did give Mary an interview, I am pleased to say that with the assistance of the Dutch based Fillip Foundation, set up to protect and promote Michael's work and run by Peter and Anne Marie Borsboom, Bob Benton has been able to include six of Michael's works as planned.

Having not been able to attend Michael's funeral, in September and at the invitation of the Borsbooms, I was pleased last month to be able to make the journey to Groningen in northern Holland to see the complete body of work that Michael left behind, also visiting the studio where Michael's works are stored and an exhibition of Michael's work in a lovely little gallery on the Dutch/German border.

Whilst I only really had one full day to look at Michael's work, I spent several hours with the Borsbooms in his studio looking through the hundreds of works, portraits, still life, landscapes, oils and water colours, he left behind. I remembered many of the works from years gone by, but many were new to me.

First I was impressed by his large Dutch landscapes in oil, recognising his love of flat land and big skies that were reminiscent of a series of water colour landscapes he had painted many years before in Norfolk. Then, there were his still lives. Now larger and more finished than many of those he had painted in England years before, two in particular, hanging in the Borsboom's house, would grace any gallery wall. Of course there were also his portraits. One of Brian Sewell that Michael had painted for the Art Video, 'A Brush with Sewell', I had witnessed him painting when I produced the original video. Another, of Anne Marie, painted soon after his arrival in Holland was both beautiful and mesmerising. Then there were his more recent nudes and the Mysteries. He painted the Mysteries in his twenties and it is remarkable that they are so modern, fresh and challenging. And it is fitting that the Mysteries themselves now adorn the walls of the small church where Michael had his final send off.

Together, Peter, Anne Marie and I found works that would fit the criteria of The Discerning Eye and chose six to include in Bob's selection. I took photographs of a selection of the works so that I could show friends back home who were interested. The comments I have received from everybody looking at the works was how varied Michael's work was and how accomplished he was in all styles and techniques.

One moment that sums this up for me refers back to the art video 'A Brush with Sewell' when Michael turned up with a single egg for use in the making of his egg tempera. As producers, we were worried about Michael not getting it right first time and not having another egg if there was a mistake. Confidently, he stated there would be no mistakes. The delicacy and skill with which he separated the egg yolk from its membrane was a joy to behold and I am pleased that we managed to preserve the moment on film.

His years of practice often paid off, particularly in his later years when surrounded by the security provided for him by the Fillip Foundation in Holland. However, an artist's artist, many believe that Michael never achieved the acknowledgment he deserved. Let's hope that at his showing in the 2008 ING Discerning Eye, more people will get to see and enjoy a greater variety of Michael's work and skill and that he will get greater recognition after his death.

 

Copyright © 2002-2010 The Discerning Eye  ~  Web site by Shepperton Software