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Kenneth Martin

Also known as: Kenneth Martin; primary name: Martin, Kenneth
Details: individual; painter/draughtsman; sculptor/medallist; British; Male
Life dates: 1905-1984
Biography: Constructivist sculptor, painter and teacher. Born 1905 in Sheffield. Studied part time at Sheffield School of Art 1921-3 and 1927-9. Won a Royal Exhibition to the Royal College of Art 1929-32. Married a fellow student Mary (nee Balmford) Martin in1930 q.v. Worked firstly as a designer. Taught at St Johns Wood School of Art and was a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths School of Art 1946-7. Exhibited with the Allied Artists'Association from 1934 and the London Group from 1936 (member in 1949). First solo exhibition at the Leicester Galleries,1943. Originally working directly from nature until 1948, producing his first abstract paintings from1949, and kinetic sculptures in 1951. Retrospective exhibition at the Tate 1975; with Henry Moore in 1976 at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh and an Arts Council touring exhibition, with Mary Martin, in 1977. He lived in London. His work is held by the Arts Council, Tate Gallery and the British Museum. Tate Gallery St Ives held an exhibition: Kenneth Martin and Mary Martin, October 2007 - January 2008.
Bibliography: Mary Charnot, Dennis Farr & Martin Butlin: Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964 II