'Flying Pagoda'

'Flying Pagoda' egg tempera on prepared panel 900 x 440mm by Stuart Maxwell Armfield (1916-2000) signed to lower right with a closed-corner gold metal-leaf over red bole slip within a closed-corner gold metal-leaf over red bole frame. An exponent of Surrealism and items of his are in the collection of the National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum. He was renowned for his use of the traditional egg tempera technique, a skilled process that uses egg yolk to bind pigments a method which dates from the Byzantine world of the early Middle Ages. He was born in Sanderstead in Surrey and studied at the West of England College of Art. He exhibited in the Summer Exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and with the St Ives Society of Artists of which he was a member. Encouraged by his successful artist uncle Maxwell Armfield he took up the use of tempera which he called "The be-all and end-all of painting" and was very keen on promoting the use of this age old traditional skill through its use in the creation of his pictures. He particularly favoured the medium for its translucency and ability to depict clean lines, razor sharp detail and bright colours which zing out at the viewer.