WORK OF THE WEEK: Kenneth Armitage, Richmond Oak, 1985 (cast 1990)

Kenneth Armitage
Richmond Oak, 1985 (cast 1990)
Bronze
305 x 190.5 x 240 cm
10ft x 6ft 3 x 7ft 6 ½ in.
Edition 2 of 3

In 1985, Kenneth Armitage was commissioned to make a piece of sculpture for the new British Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. The resulting work stems from Armitage’s 10-year fascination with the oak trees at Richmond Park, and subjects that expressed signals of life. He would regularly return to the park, considering it to be an escape from city life. Richmond Oak, with its bright colour and stylised form, reflects the newness, industry and digitalisation of culture in the 1980s, fitting for its site in the relatively young city of Brasilia. Simultaneously, it regards the oak tree as a representation of English tradition and history – a symbol of home in faraway lands.

The first edition of Richmond Oak remains at the British Embassy in Brasilia, a Capital whose civic buildings were designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The second edition is situated at Roche Court Sculpture Park and the third edition is currently on display at Yokohama Park, in Japan.

Kenneth Armitage, Richmond Oak, 1985 (cast 1990) sited at Roche Court Sculpture Park.

Born in Leeds in 1916, Kenneth Armitage was recognised as a central figure in the great renaissance of British sculpture in the early post-war years.

He attended Leeds College of Art, and subsequently won a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Between 1946 and 1956, Armitage was Head of Sculpture at the Bath Academy of Art, Wiltshire. Armitage was instrumental in the building of a foundry so that work by students and staff could be cast under their own supervision, following the severe decline of bronze casting in the austerity of the post-war years. In 1952 he achieved international recognition for his participation in the 26th Venice Biennale as one of a group of young British sculptors including Reg Butler, Lynn Chadwick, William Turnbull and Eduardo Paolozzi.

Armitage’s early works were carved in stone, but he soon began casting in bronze, initially using plaster modelled on metal armatures and layered using clay. By the 1960s, he had begun working with wax, resin and aluminium. He received a number of honours throughout his life for his varied and open practice. Between 1953 and 1955, he held a Gregory Fellowship in sculpture at Leeds University, in 1969 he was awarded a CBE, and in 1994 he was made a Royal Academician. His work can be found in numerous international museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; the National Galerie, Berlin, Germany; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Tate, London; the Rijksmuseum, Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, The Netherlands; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA and the Government Art Collection, UK.