to build a better understanding of the artist's creative process. His approach, ordinarily, was to create multiple drawings, after which he would start to construct the sculpture, using these initial sketches as a guide. Two bronzes he produced in the 60s, Standing Man (1960) and Standing Figure (1961), deviate from this usual method. His approach to sculpting these pieces was far more organic. Armitage stated that; ‘A lot of the works I do are thought out in my mind, exactly what I want to do, and these were more like a landscape painter who sits in front of a landscape and surrenders himself to what he sees… instead of having a clear programme in my mind, one's mind.’

This naturalistic way of working resulted in a figurative sculpture which is steeped in abstraction. In The Sculpture of Kenneth Armitage, James Scott recounts a letter Armitage sent to Alan Grieve where he describes the two figures; ‘I like both pieces, but I am inclined to favour Standing Man, being more radical - the thin and thick leg unique in sculpture.’

The bronze was cast in Berlin by Herman Noack, the third generation of the Noack family to run the foundry. Armitage was first introduced to Noack by Harry Fischer, one of the founding partners of the Marlborough Gallery, who represented Armitage between the late 1950s and early 1970s.