Armitage, Kenneth (1916–2002)

English sculptor. His works are mostly executed in bronze, and based on the human figure, characteristically depicted with large, flat, squarish bodies, small heads, and spindly limbs. His figures are often fused into a single form, as in People in the Wind (1950; Tate Gallery, London) and Sentinels (1955–56; Brooklyn Museum, New York).

Armitage studied at Leeds College of Art and the Slade School, London, where he had his first one-man show in 1952 at the Gimpel Fields Gallery. He came to international attention at the Venice Biennale exhibition in 1958. In his early works, the human figure was generally treated with humour, although during the 1960s a more tragic and anxious mood prevailed. From the early 1970s he made works that combined drawing and sculpture. His public commissions include a screen in Nottingham University Library (1973) and Both Arms (1975; Royal Marine Commando Training Centre). Later exhibits include the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1996 and the Millennium Sculpture Exhibition in Holland Park, London, in 2000.