WORK OF THE WEEK: Kenneth Armitage, Bernadette Going to Wales, 1972

Kenneth Armitage
Bernadette Going to Wales
1972 (cast 1986)
Aluminium and gloss paint
24.5 x 29 x 9 cm
9 ⅝ x 11 ⅜ x 3 ½ in.

Kenneth Armitage (1916-2002) was part of the great renaissance of British sculpture in the early post-war years. The art of bronze casting had been in severe decline because of the austerity of the post-war years; his very early works were carved in stone, but in the post-war years he began casting in bronze, initially using plaster modelled on metal armatures, later using clay. By the 1960s, Armitage had begun working with wax, resin, and aluminium. Bernadette Going to Wales is one such sculpture, cast in aluminium. The piece speaks to the attentiveness, and humour, of the artist. The forward tilt of the shrouded figure gives the impression of weighted movement: a slow and steady pilgrimage. Despite the depicted fleeing of figures from where Bernadette is headed, she is so determined in her expedition that she is rendered three-dimensional, emerging from the sculpture and carrying the weight of it in her resolve.

To see footage of Bernadette Going to Wales in the Artist House, check out our Instagram. To discover more pieces by Kenneth Armitage, please enquire below:

Kenneth Armitage has exhibited worldwide and is recognised as one of the major British sculptors of the twentieth century. The New Art Centre represents the Estate of Kenneth Armitage in partnership with Jonathan Clark Fine Art Ltd, London. He has had several exhibitions with the New Art Centre: in 2005, 2008, 2010 and in 2019, Kenneth Armitage: The Richmond Oaks: Sculpture, collage and drawing was held in the Artist House.

Bernadette Going to Wales in the Artist House, Roche Court.