James Ayres

Author on Folk Art & Former Director of Judkyn Memorial at Freshford Manor, near Bath

James Ayres was for many years the Director of the Judkyn Memorial at Freshford Manor near Bath, now absorbed into the American Museum in Britain. From Freshford he circulated numerous exhibitions throughout Europe on the cultural history of America.

In 1977 he published his book on British Folk Art and in 1980 English Naive Art with its introduction by Andras Kalman. These two publications were followed by 200 Years of English Naive Art (1990) and Art, Artisans and Apprentices (2014).

My main aim was to emphasise that this type of work was not made by amateurs (in the most usual sense of that word). For this reason I’ve done my best to cite the works in the collection which are by individuals who were trained in a trade.