Duffy Ayers obituary

Gifted portrait painter and member of the famous school of art based in the Essex village of Great BardfieldThe painter Duffy Ayers, who has died aged 102, was the last survivor of the lively and distinguished community of artists who lived and worked in the Essex village of Great Bardfield from the 1930s to the 60s, and which included Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden, John Aldridge and Michael Rothenstein.Duffy was a gifted portrait painter within a quiet realist tradition, but her best work was i