Kenneth Armitage was born in Leeds in 1916. He studied at Leeds College of Art (1934-37) and at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1937-39). During the war years he served in the army and in 1946 became Head of Sculpture at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham - a post that he held for ten years. In…
read the full biography
Kenneth Armitage was born in Leeds in 1916. He studied at Leeds College of Art (1934-37) and at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1937-39). During the war years he served in the army and in 1946 became Head of Sculpture at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham - a post that he held for ten years. In 1956 he was awarded the first prize in the International War Memorial Competition in Krefeld, Germany, and in the 1958 Venice Biennale he won the David E. Bright Foundation Award. In 1964, he has held posts at the University of Caracas, Venezuela, at Boston University and from 1974 to 1979 was visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art. From the early 1950s, exhibitions of his work could be seen in the United States, Europe, Japan and South America, with group exhibitions ranging even wider. Three retrospective exhibitions held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1959), Artcurial, Paris (1985) and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (1996-97) have summarised Armitage's achievement and his passions for the human form and human condition, movement and trees. His inclination as an artist has always been towards abstraction and simplification of form, with bronze a preferred medium. His work is represented in public and private collections world-wide. Armitage was awarded the CBE in 1969.
The movement and energy in Kenneth Armitage's sculpture is an abiding presence and, indeed, was the theme of some works. However, Armitage writes, "Naturally my sculpture contains ideas or experiences other than those that derive directly from observation of the human image. Nevertheless, it is always dressed in some degree in human form." Parallel themes occur in his drawings and prints.
