Standing Figure

Armitage's preoccupation was with the human figure, to give the impression and representation of form and movement rather than the recreation of the physical through sculpture. In 1955, the year of the present work, Kenneth Armitage described his artistic work of this period: 'I like sculpture to look as if it had happened, and to express an idea as simply as possible' (K. Armitage, 'Statement' in exhibition catalogue, The new decade: 22 European painters and sculptors, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1955, pages not numbered).