Anthony Caro

An up-to-date monograph published on the occasion of the Venice and London retrospectives dedicated to one of the greatest of living sculptors: Sir Anthony Caro (New Malden, Surrey, 1924). The versatile British artist, who has made an important mark in the history of art since the 1960s, has radically revolutionised his art. After a strictly figurative beginning, under the influence of his teacher, Henry Moore, he drifted away from sculptural tradition to create revolutionary assemblages, welded and bolted together, painted in bright colours and positioned on the floor within the viewers space; these were abstract works but rich in ideal content. His favourite material is steel, but Caro also experiments with many other materials, including bronze, wood, paper and lead. His assemblages of two-dimensional metal elements the most evident feature of his work became the emblem of new British sculpture, a starting point and influence for all the later generations. A symbol of all that is new and modern in sculpture, Anthony Caro is present in all the most important international events: it is worth recalling his first personal show at André Emmerich in New York in 1964, his participation the only sculptor present at the British pavilion of the 1966 edition of the Venice Biennale, the retrospective at the MoMA in New York in 1975, the 1984 exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery in London, which travelled throughout Europe, the Japanese Emperors Prize for sculpture in 1992, the major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo in 1995, and, finally, his work with Normal Foster for the Millennium Bridge. In 2004, the Tate Modern in London celebrated his 80th birthday.