Kenneth Armitage (b.1916)

People in a Wind

Details

Kenneth Armitage (b.1916)
People in a Wind
bronze with a mid/dark brown patina
25.5/8 in. (65.1 cm.) high
Conceived in 1950

Provenance

Gimpel Fils, London, where purchased by the present owner in October 1953.

Literature

C. Giedion-Welcker, Contemporary Sculpture, New York, 1955, p.186 (another cast illustrated and incorrectly titled 'Family Going for a Walk').
N. Lynton, Kenneth Armitage, London, 1962, pl.3 (plaster illustrated and incorrectly dated 1951).
Studio, CLXI, 1961, p.129 (another cast illustrated).
M. Chamot, D. Farr and M. Butlin, The Tate Gallery Catalogues The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, I, 1964, p.14, no.T.366, pl.1 (another cast illustrated).
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection - Masterpieces of Modern Art, New York, 1981, p.151.
S. Compton (Ed.), British Art in the 20th Century, Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogue, London, 1987, pl.218 (another cast illustrated). T. Woollcombe (Ed.), Kenneth Armitage Life and Work, London, 1997, pp.24, 26, 143, no.KA8, p.28 (another cast illustrated).

Exhibited

possibly London, Gimpel Fils, Armitage, December 1952-January 1953, no.41.

Lot Essay

Armitage modelled this figure group at Corsham in 1950, where he was teaching at the Bath Academy. He had seen a group of people walking in a wind and he had also become interested in a plant with long stalks. A second version was made at the same time, which is identical except that it lacks hands at the back (see Christie's, 22 October 1997, lot 33). The present version was cast in an edition of six; the first, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1952 (British Pavilion, no.101), was purchased by Peggy Guggenheim. Other casts are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum von der Heydt, Wuppertal; and the Tate Gallery, London. (see M. Chamot, D. Farr and M. Butlin, loc. cit.).

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