Leaving aside Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, the most well known members of the London Calling group for the moment, let me share a little about Michael Andrews whose work is deserving of more attention.

Andrews was a student of Freud's at the Slade. While still at art school, he painted A Man Who Suddenly Fell Over. It's surreal and whimsical but realistic all at once. He was only 24. He won the Rome scholarship, but, unusually, returned to London mid stream, unable to settle in Italy. He needed his posse.

Andrews went from painting small groups to larger, more social groups and back again. One of which is the group at Colony Room 1, 1962, which was a drinking club favored by his pals. Party scenes and social gatherings drawn from his own life as well as newspaper images had begun to preoccupy him.

His recollections of a typical evening at the club included images of John Deakin (who had taken the wonderful photo at Wheeler's of the group, back to viewer), Henrietta Moraes who sat for Bacon and Freud (in blue dress), Freud (in dark coat facing out), Bacon (seated) and other friends. He thrived on this social interaction.

Andrews said, " "I think we thought our responses to people and circumstances and life were more important than nursing some systematic idea of what painting was all about.
Courtesy Estate of Michael Andrews