WORK OF THE WEEK: Anthony Caro, Palanquin, 1987/91
Anthony Caro
Palanquin, 1987/91
Stainless steel, painted grey in part
254 x 437 x 218.5 cm
8ft 4 x 14ft 4 x 7ft 2 in.
With its elegant sweeping forms, contrasted by sharp, angular planes, Palanquin is indicative of Anthony Caro's exploration of the interplay between space, architecture, and sculpture. Palanquin is an almost tent-like sculpture: open, ethereal, light and seemingly in motion, it takes its name from the traditional covered litter used in India and the East to carry dignitaries.
The sculpture derives from a ‘sculptural village’ that Caro made alongside Frank Gehry and others at the Triangle Artists’ Workshop in upstate New York in 1987. As Caro recalled in 1994 in a letter to Dieter Blume: ‘At that time we worked in plywood which we were able to force into curved shapes and I felt very intrigued by some of the parts of the village and thought I could develop them further. They are sculptures, but they are on the border of architecture.’
During a career that spanned more than six decades, Anthony Caro (1924-2013) achieved international recognition as one of the world’s leading modern sculptors. In 1960, he abandoned his earlier figurative way of working and began making abstract sculptures in welded and painted steel. In 1963, Caro had his first one-man exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, where in a significant departure from tradition, constructions were placed directly on the ground. Waiving the convention of elevating sculptures on plinths, he created an immediate experience with the viewer, ultimately heralding a revolution in the way sculpture was regarded.
Caro's sculpture has been exhibited internationally, and major solo exhibitions include: a retrospective at Tate in 2004-5; presentations at the Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut and a major exhibition of outdoor sculpture at Chatsworth, both in 2012; a 2013 show at the Museo Correr coinciding with the Venice Biennale; a solo show at the National Gallery in 2015 and a solo exhibition at Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal earlier this year. He was awarded many prizes in his lifetime, including the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture in Tokyo in 1992 and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sculpture in 1997 – as well as a number of honorary degrees from universities in the UK, USA and Europe. He was knighted in 1987 and received the Order of Merit in May 2000.
In 2022, the New Art Centre exhibited Anthony Caro's work in the sculpture park, featuring seven large scale works and a group of smaller painted steel sculptures dating from the 1960s to the 2000s.
In the gallery, our current exhibition of new sculpture by Olivia Bax, Handrailing, is open until November 10th.
Olivia Bax worked as a studio assistant for Anthony Caro in her early twenties.