kenneth armitage / seated couple / 30/124
Kenneth Armitage was born in Leeds in 1916. In 1934, he was awarded the Gregory Fellowship, a scholarship to Leeds College of Art.
It was during his period at the Slade school of Art that he found his direction as a sculptor. Between 1939 and 1945 Armitage was in military service. Post war, he became a sculpture teacher at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, staying for ten years. It was during this period that he developed his mature style, focused on figurative works. His 'flat' approach to the sculptural treatment of the human form could be a reaction against the monumentality of Henry Moore's work, a reaction characteristic of the work produced by British sculptors during the postwar period. Armitage consequently became interested in investigating the effects of weightlessness and suspension in his work.
Armitage's first solo show was held at the Gimpel Fils Gallery in 1952.
His international success was confirmed in 1956 when he was awarded first prize in a competition for a war memorial for the town of Kretfield in Germany.
The significance of his contribution to British sculpture was confirmed in 1958 at the 29th Venice Biennale, where he was awarded the prize for best British Sculptor aged under forty-five.
He traveled extensively throughout the 1960's. In 1964, he was a visiting professor at the University of Caracas, Venezuela, and in 1970 at Boston University. From 1974 to 1979 he was a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art.
A major retrospective of his work was held at the Art Curial in Paris in 1985. His work was also exhibited at the Seoul Olympics in 1988, in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1996, and at the Millennium Sculpture Exhibition in Holland Park, London, in 2000. He became a Royal Academician in 1994. Kenneth Armitage died in London on January 22, 2002.
seated couple
1960
lithograph in colour
some creasing to bottom left and top right - does not detract from the image
a copy in the tate collection
initialed KA and numbered from an edition of 35
(there is also an edition of 350 - signed by the artist)
Shown in a painted lightly distressed french frame of similar vintage with conservation mount and museum glazing
image: 402 x 576mm
frame: 520 x 700mm
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my details are:
geoffrey powell
122 grove lane
london SE5 8BP (viewing by appointment only)
t: +44 0 7713399961
e: gp@twentiethcenturyprints.com