Martin, Kenneth, 1905–1984

Small Screw Mobile 1953

Kenneth Martin (1905–1984)

Tate

(b Sheffield, 13 Apr. 1905; d London, 18 Nov. 1984). British painter and sculptor. In 1930 he married Mary Balmford (a fellow student at the Royal College of Art), whose artistic development as Mary Martin (b Folkestone, 16 Jan. 1907; d London, 9 Oct. 1969) was closely related to his own. In the 1930s he painted in a naturalistic style, but during the 1940s his work became less representational until in 1948–9 he produced his first abstract pictures. His wife soon followed suit and in the early 1950s they began making abstract constructions. With Victor Pasmore and others they became recognized as leaders of the Constructivist movement that burgeoned in England in the 1950s. Kenneth Martin's contribution came not only through his work, but also by writing and organizing exhibitions.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)

Keeping contemporary: 25 years of the Wakelin Award
Peter Wakelin

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Biography on Wikipedia

Art History Research net (AHR net)

Kenneth Lawrence Martin [commonly known as Kenneth Martin] was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England on 13 April 1905 and studied at Sheffield School of Art from 1921 to 1923. He then worked as a freelance graphic designer before returning to Sheffield School of Art in 1927. In 1929 he was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London where he remained until 1932. He subsequently worked primarily as a painter. He was also a sculptor, kinetic artist and occasional textile designer. An example of hand-printed satin designed by him for Allan Walton Textiles is illustrated in 'British Textile Designers Today' by H.G. Hayes Marshall (Leigh-on-Sea, England: F. Lewis Ltd., 1939 p. 182).

His early paintings were in a naturalistic mode, but during the 1940s his work became increasingly abstract. His first completely abstract paintings date from 1948 and by 1951 he began to produce geometrically abstract sculptures, built mainly in metal "from a nucleus outwards'" as he said.

With others, including Mary Adela Martin (1907-1969) his wife, he was at the forefront at the Constructionist movement in Britain in the 1950s. His first solo exhibition was held at the Leicester Galleries in London in 1943 and he continued to exhibit for the rest of his life both as a solo artist and with his wife in joint exhibitions. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Tate Gallery in London in 1977.

Following World War Two, he taught at Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts and was a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths' College in London until 1967. He died in London on 18 November 1984.

Examples of his work are in the permanent collections of the Arts Council England, British Council, Government Art Collection, Hatton Gallery, Kettle's Yard, Museums Sheffield, National Gallery of Scotland, National Museums Northern Ireland, National Museum of Wales, National Portrait Gallery, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Southampton Art Gallery, Swindon Art Gallery and the Tate Gallery.

Text source: <a href="https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Art History Research net (AHR net)</a>

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