Anthony Caro: Quest for the New Sculpture
By MEGAKLES
Anthony Caro: Quest for the New Sculpture
IAN BARKER (Author) / 555 duotone illustrations / 22x25cm / 360 pages / hardback / ISBN: 0-85331-910-3
PRICE: £30.00
Anthony Caro is internationally acknowledged as one of the greatest modernist sculptors of our time. "Anthony Caro: Quest for the New Sculpture" is a landmark publication. It is the first monograph to present a comprehensive overview of the artist’s lifetime quest for the "New Sculpture". Seen through a wealth of fascinating archival and contemporary sources, the reader can trace Caro’s views on sculpture accompanied by an engaging chronological examination of his entire development from hitherto unseen letters and interviews. The launch of this book coincides with Caro’s 80th birthday and three exhibitions of his sculpture — currently "Caro in Focus" at Kunsthalle W�rth, Schw�bisch Hall, Germany (until 3 October 2004), and "The Way It Is" at Kenwood House, Hampstead, England (1-25 July 2004), followed by his retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain (26 January – 17 April 2005).
Sculpture has hardly been the same since the 1950s, when Anthony Caro began experimenting with it. One of Caro’s most notable achievements — in keeping with post-modernism – is ‘sculpitecture’; that is the intersection of sculpture with architecture. However, no sooner had Caro gained followers than he broke grounds further.
"Antony Caro: Quest for the New Sculpture" is the title of the first comprehensive book on Caro’s life and career. Published on the occasion of his 80th birthday, this book brings together all of Caro’s breakthroughs. It must be noted that this book serves as a retrospective catalogue and academic manual, with its aim to enhance an understanding of Caro’s art. The book’s author is Ian Barker, who – apart from being an expert on Caro – is a remarkable authority on contemporary art; having been Exhibitions Officer at MOMA New York, Assistant Director of Fine Arts at the British Council, Director of Contemporary Art at Annely Juda Fine Art, and Founder of the International Museums Agency. In this instance, Barker is author of the history of Caro’s emergence to prominence, and editor of documentary and archival material from innumerable sources.
Each of the eleven chapters deals in chronological order with a key period in the development of Caro’s sculpture; (1) biographical background (2) education at the Royal Academy (3) assistance to Henry Moore (4) using painting to open up sculpture (5) breakthrough of taking sculpture off the pedestal (6) Whitechapel exhibition (7) Bennington College years & The New Generation exhibition (8) abstract painted sculpture & exploring volume and raw steel (9) Old Masters as point of departure & diversification of materials and scale (10) Sculpitecture (11) narrative sculpture & sculpture from painting.
This book’s strength is its narrative, with hitherto unpublished pieces of text that are crucial for an appreciation of Caro’s contribution to sculpture in the second half of the twentieth century. The narrative runs seamlessly, while interchangeably including Barker’s text, Caro’s own words, correspondences with legendary authorities (like Clement Greenberg and Michael Fried), interviews with major figures in art theory and practice. Furthermore, this book brings together a wonderful array of previously unpublished documentary material; ranging from letters and articles to covers of magazines and books. Finally, the book reproduces the maximum of photographs required for such a venture. Apart from reproducing most of Caro’s major works, a good deal of these photographs include Caro’s key sources of inspiration and comparable works of art, either contemporary or past.
Though ingeniously resourced, this book is marred by rather low-quality and small-sized black & white reproductions, when this could perhaps be avoided. However, admittedly, this book’s primary purpose is not exactly to serve as an album on the coffee-table.
© 2004 MEGAKLES (Critic & Curator of Art)
