John McEwen

An artist of the quickening world

The sculptor sold pieces to the likes of Peggy Guggenheim and MoMA — then fell out of fashion

issue 20 May 2017

What is it about Yorkshire, particularly Leeds, that it has bred or trained such a succession of famous modern sculptors? Moore, Hepworth, Armitage and, although it stretches the point, Hirst. All attended Leeds art schools and Armitage was born there on 18 July 1916. Everyone knows Moore, Hepworth, Hirst. But Armitage? How many under 60 remember him? Conventional opinion confines his relevance to the 1950s.

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