Kenneth Armitage 1916-2002
Seated figure with Arms Raised (small version), 1957
Stamped with foundry mark 'Cire perdue C. Valsuani'
Bronze. Cast at La Fonderie Valsuani, Paris.
Height 13 in, 33 cm
Provenance
Private Collection, Italy
Literature
Scott, James, The Sculpture of Kenneth Armitage, London, 2016,
illus. p.112, no.73
Armitage was part of the British Pavilion's exhibition at the Venice Biennale
in 1958, the year after creating Seated Figure with Arms Raised. Figures with
outstretched limbs were an integral part of his submission for the display.
Like many of his small scale works of the 1950s the body of Seated Figure
with Arms Raised is bold and dense. The playful yet exaggerated splayed arms
and legs exacerbate the physicality of the work and further highlight the
body's unusual pose. Armitage, who as a result of the 1952 Biennale had
shot to fame, produced some of his greatest works during this period which
institutions and collectors 'sparred' to acquire.
Although part of the so-called 'Geometry of Fear' school, Armitage's figurative
works are both tragic and comical. Whilst studying at the Slade in the late
thirties his tutors encouraged him to keep the 'humorous' side of his work.
This humour lay in stark contrast to the utopian ideals and formal seriousness
of Moore's work.
