Kenneth Armitage 1916-2002

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.

During the Second World War Armitage served in the army and then, after the war ended, became Head of Sculpture at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, a post he held for ten years. It is during this period that he began to work in bronze.

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. ... read more

Kenneth Armitage Exhibition Catalogue Exhibition Catalogue

Kenneth Armitage Sculpture

Two Seated Figures (small version B with crossed arms)

Kenneth Armitage: Two Seated Figures (small version B with crossed arms), 1957