Kenneth Armitage British, 1916-2002

Kenneth Armitage’s overriding concern was always with humanity and a preoccupation with feelings expressed through the language of the body and the figurative image of man remained central to his work. Inspired by the ‘simple things’ in life; washing on a line, buildings, aeroplane wings, screens, he incorporated similar structures into figurative sculpture forming his familiar planar forms. The least ‘fearful’ of the ‘geometry of fear’ sculptors at Venice in 1952, the simplicity of his work was often imbued with a wry sense of humour in daily life. Armitage wished to convey a sense of immediacy and playfulness in his work, saying, “I like sculpture to look as if it happened, to express an idea as simply as possible.