20th Century British Art

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Lot 87
  • 87

Kenneth Armitage 1916-2002

Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Description

  • Kenneth Armitage CBE, RA
  • Pandarus X

  • signed with initials

  • bronze with a black patina
  • height 90cm., 35½in.

Exhibited

London, Marlborough Fine Art, Kenneth Armitage, April 1965, no.17;
London, Jonathan Clarke Fine Art, Kenneth Armitage: Sculptures, Maquettes and Drawings, April - May 2005, no.31.

Literature

Tamsyn Woollcombe (ed.) in association with the artist, Kenneth Armitage: Life and Work, Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, London, 1997, KA132.

Catalogue Note

Conceived in 1964 and cast in 1979.

Armitage had begun working on the theme of Pandarus in 1962. In Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida', the unscrupulous Pandarus, uncle of Cressida, acts as the go-between for his niece and her lover, while also operating as a voyeuristic commentator on the action. The tubular forms punctuating the main body of the sculpture could be seen to resemble the open mouths, eyes and ears of the messenger Pandarus and on a wider level relate to the sculptor's interest in the role of sculpture as a method of communication. Sir Alan Bowness has suggested (in his introduction to the Arts Council exhibition catalogue, Kenneth Armitage, 1972-3) that the Pandarus figures not only convey an outward message but may also be regarded as a 'probing kind of self portraiture'.