The Forest

In 1963 Kenneth Armitage spent some months in Venezuela. He was invited by Miguel Aroyo, Director of the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, who had asked if he would make a visit to help the sculptors there who were less familiar with international art than the painters. During his stay he visited the rain forests and met the forest Indians. Anthropology was a life long interest of Armitage, he wrote: 'This expedition left a lasting and vivid impression. One result was a fairly large sculpture, The Forest of 1965, with extended arms and legs from a plain vertical slab. For me, work rarely results from visits, but in this case there was a direct influence. In the equatorial rain forest it is not congested at ground level; the congestion is in the canopy above, with these enormous trees and great buttresses holding them up. But if there is a clearing, then there are dense thickets so thick that you cannot put your hand in. This inspired the bronze - I made two maquettes first and then the large piece' (loc. cit., p. 89).