Kenneth Armitage (1916-2002) (View BIOGRAPHY)

Born in Leeds in 1916, Kenneth Armitage studied at Leeds College of Art from 1934 - 37 followed by the Slade School of Fine Art, London from 1937 - 39. His pre-war sculpture of this period was mainly carvings, most of which he later destroyed.

Kenneth Armitage was one of eight young British sculptors, including Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, Robert Adams and Geoffrey Clarke whose work, when first shown at the Venice Biennale in 1952, was dubbed by Herbert Read 'the geometry of fear'. Their sculptures, with spiky, fragmented forms, seemed to encapsulate the bewildered anguish of this post-war generation. As a group their work marked a new approach in sculpture, with the emphasis on distorted forms of reality, where the artist's thoughts and inner feelings are revealed. This marked a move in British sculpture towards expressionism and anti-monumental style.

Armitage's first one man exhibition was at Gimpel Fils 1952. By the time of his one-man retrospective show at the Venice Biennale in 1958, Kenneth Armitage was internationally famous and is now recognised as having been one of the major British sculptors of the twentieth century. He has won a number of accolades including the David E Bright Foundation award for best sculpture under 45 at the Venice Biennale of 1958. In 1959 a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at Whitechapel Art Gallery, London. Armitage was made CBE in 1969 and was elected to the Royal Academy in 1994.

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INVENTORY BY THIS ARTIST

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Maquette for Richmond Oak (1977) VIEW Bernadette goes to Wales (1972) VIEW The Visitors (1961) VIEW Seated Group (1960) VIEW Square Figure Relief (1954) VIEW Two Figures (1953) VIEW Seated Group (1953) VIEW