Kenneth Armitage
English sculptor
title: "Kenneth Armitage" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1916-births", "2002-deaths", "geometry-of-fear", "alumni-of-leeds-arts-university", "alumni-of-the-slade-school-of-fine-art", "20th-century-english-sculptors", "english-male-sculptors", "commanders-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "royal-academicians", "leeds-blue-plaques", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-ii", "royal-artillery-soldiers", "20th-century-english-male-artists", "military-personnel-from-leeds"] description: "English sculptor" topic_path: "science/mathematics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Armitage" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary English sculptor ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Kenneth Armitage |
| honorific_suffix | |
| image | Kenneth Armitage.jpg |
| birth_name | William Kenneth Armitage |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Leeds, England |
| death_date | |
| death_place | London, England |
| education | Leeds College of Art |
| Slade School of Fine Art | |
| style | Bronze sculpture |
| :: |
| honorific_prefix = | name = Kenneth Armitage | honorific_suffix = | image = Kenneth Armitage.jpg | birth_name = William Kenneth Armitage | birth_date = | birth_place = Leeds, England | death_date = | death_place = London, England | education = Leeds College of Art Slade School of Fine Art | style = Bronze sculpture ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Kenneth_Armitage_plaque,_Leeds_2018.jpg" caption="Blue Plaque in Leeds City Centre"] ::
William Kenneth Armitage (18 July 1916 – 22 January 2002) was a British sculptor known for his semi-abstract bronzes.
Life
Armitage was born in Leeds on July 18, 1916, the youngest of three children studied at the Leeds College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art in London before joining the British Army (Royal Artillery) in 1939.
In 1940 he married Joan Moore, another sculptor. They separated in the 1950s but never divorced. They had no children.
After leaving the army, Armitage became head of the sculpture department at the Bath Academy of Art in 1946.
He died 22 January 2002.
Work
Armitage's striking mature style was evident as early as 1952. Most of his works are recognizably human, but are sometimes joined with the forms of animals or furniture. Many displayed quirky humor. Armitage was also interested in ancient Egyptian and Cycladic art and his works have an archaic flavour. He was featured in the 1964 documentary film "5 British Sculptors (Work and Talk)" by American filmmaker Warren Forma. During the 1960s and beyond, Armitage adapted to the styles of the times, sometimes incorporating plastic or spray paint. File:Kenneth armitage, persone nel vento, 1950.jpg|People in the Wind (1950) Exhibited at Venice Biennale in 1952 File:Marl Armitage 01.JPG|Sitting People (1952), Marl, Germany File:Duisburg SLM Armitage 01.JPG|The Prophet (1961), Duisburg, Germany File:KMM Armitage 01.JPG|Monitor (1961), Otterlo The Netherlands File:Both Arms Armitage 2010.jpg|Both Arms (2001) Leeds, UK File:Legs Walking 24 May 2018 01.jpg|Legs Walking 2001 (2001) Leeds, UK
Exhibition
- 1960: Kenneth Armitage - Lynn Chadwick, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
- 1963: Kenneth Armitage - Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, Switzerland
References
- "Armitage, Kenneth",Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008, Encyclopædia Britannica Online. November 26, 2008.
- Ratcliff, Carter. "Armitage, Kenneth", Academic American Encyclopedia, 1991 edition, volume 2, pp. 173–174.
- Schmalenbach, Werner: Catalogue covering the exhibition of 1960 at Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover (in German).
References
- . (24 January 2001). ["Kenneth Armitage"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1382462/Kenneth-Armitage.html). *The Telegraph*.
- (2004). "Kenneth Armitage's Pandarus (version 8". Tate Papers.
- . (6 February 2018). ["Here's why this new statue has appeared in Leeds city centre"](https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/whats-on/arts/here-s-why-this-new-statue-has-appeared-in-leeds-city-centre-1-9004088). *Yorkshire Evening Post*.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::