Sir Anthony Caro 1924-2013

By Aliza Wall

Sir Anthony Caro, Early One Morning, 1962, painted steel and aluminum, 289.6 x 619.8 x 335.3 cm, Tate Britain, London, https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/anthony-caros-early-one-morning

English sculptor Sir Anthony Caro played a critical role in the development of 20th-century sculpture, moving through styles with ease and grace. Born March 8, 1924, in London, Caro began his foray into sculpture at a young age. By 13, he was already apprenticed to the sculptor Charles Wheeler, who specialized in portraits and architectural sculpture. Soon after, Caro received a degree in engineering from the University of Cambridge and (after his return from the Royal Navy during the Second World War) and subsequently began his training at the Royal Academy in London. In the final year of his formal training, Caro worked as an assistant to the iconic English sculptor Henry Moore. Caro’s work of the period was clearly influenced by Moore, who was known for his abstracted human forms. Caro’s Woman Waking Up (1955) mimic’s Moore’s emphasis on the specifically female abstract form but breaks from his practice in the use of clay modelling rather than direct carving. The piece attempted to express the sensation of the body from the inside out through its rejection of Moore’s licked surfaces. By the end of the decade, Caro had largely eschewed this mode of sculpture and began to experiment with new materials and techniques during teaching projects at St Martin’s School of Art where he worked part-time from 1953. 

Caro’s 1959 visit to the United States fundamentally transformed his aesthetic and working method. During this visit, he met the sculptor David Smith and was influenced by the work of the sculptor Kenneth Noland and the (in)famous critic Clement Greenberg. Upon his return to England, Caro began to create sculptures comprised of welded standardized metal units into abstract configurations which were painted a single primary colour. The materials and techniques used in sculptures of this era were derived from David Smith, but their syntax originates from the Cubist grid. The cleanliness and monochrome nature of this period’s sculptures likely originate from the influence of Clement Greenberg and his writings about modernism and medium specificity. This style is epitomized by Caro’s piece, Early One Morning (1962). A further innovation made by Caro during this period was the creation of the dual illusion of weightlessness and presence which contrasted starkly with the monumental monolithic sculptures and portraits of the previous decade. He also pioneered the removal of sculptures from plinths and placing them, untraditionally, on the ground. In 1963, Caro was given a one-man exhibition by the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London which displayed fifteen of his abstract steel sculptures. Following this exhibition, Caro was widely regarded as a major figure in the reorientation of mainstream modernist British sculpture. 

During the 1970s, Caro began to experiment with irregular steel compositions which were often vertically oriented. Although some of his work remained similar to that created during the 1960s (which were often more geometric), sculptures of his period were more lyrical and suggestive of a more spontaneous practice. Following his major exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1975, Caro’s reputation in the United States was high. Subsequently, he was commissioned to create a public sculpture (one the few created during his career) for the National Gallery in Washington D.C. National Gallery Ledge Piece (1978) is exemplary of his work at the time: spontaneous and dynamic. From the 1980s until his death in 2013, Caro experimented with sheet bronze (ex. Return, 1981), representation (ex. After Olympia, 1988), and multimedia works (ex. The Last Judgement, 1999). Caro was knighted in 1987 and received the Order of Merit in 2000 and was the first artist to receive this honour since his mentor, Henry Moore. Caro died in 2013 at age 89 and has since been acknowledged as the foremost figure in British sculpture and the greatest contributor to its evolution. 

Bibliography

Cooke, Lynne. “Caro, Sir Anthony.” Grove Art Online. January 22, 2014. https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000014196?rskey=Uyx44c&result=1.

Feaver, William. “Why Anthony Caro Broke the Rules.” ARTnews. January 27, 2014. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/why-sculptor-anthony-caro-broke-the-rules-2366/.

“Sir Anthony Caro.” Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Accessed March 1, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anthony-Caro.