Church of St Jean Baptiste, Bourbourg, France
Calais, Dunkerque and Gravelines,
France
Musée des Beaux arts d'Angers,
France
Royal Academy of Arts, London
National Portrait Gallery, St
Martins Place, London
New Art Centre, Roche Court,
Salisbury
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10-12 October 2008 The Côte d'Opale, Calais' region in Northern France, announces two exceptional and unique events: the inauguration of a spectacular public commission by the artist Anthony Caro at the Eglise Saint-Jean de Baptiste of Bourbourg and a major retrospective in France of the artist's work, presented simultaneously at the museums of Calais, Dunkerque and Gravelines. Over a period of several years, Anthony Caro has been working on a major series of sculptures and architectural features to form part of the restoration of a chapel at Bourbourg in Northern France, about 12 miles east of Calais. The Chapel of Light is situated in the choir of the Church of St Jean Baptiste. During World War II, a damaged English aircraft crash-landed on the roof of the church in order to avoid the houses in the town, and set it on fire. The church itself was restored, but the choir was separated by a wall from the body of the church and left in ruins until ten years ago. Caro was commissioned by the French Ministry for Culture and Communication to make a sculptural installation that would bring new life to the redundant choir.
Specifically for the project he has designed and built two huge internal oak
towers each about 18 feet high. These towers are to be used for musical
performances and allow vertical exploration of the church space. Caro has
also made a concrete baptismal pool and a spectacular series of steel, wood
and terracotta sculptures to fill a series of niches in the walls of the
apex to the choir. Various other sculptures complete the east and west
naves, linked through a doorway to a large exterior sculpture in corten
steel. The sculptures follow the themes of The Creation (relating to the
baptismal font) culminating in Adam and Eve. Anthony Caro recognises that
this monumental project is an exceptional opportunity for an artist. He
stated, 'The light in the church is wonderful and it is such a privilege as
an artist to be given a whole space to work with'. Not since Matisse's
Chapel in Vence has another artist been given this opportunity. |
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Calais, Dunkerque and Gravelines Anthony Caro: Three part retrospective This major retrospective of works by Anthony Caro will be
shown simultaneously in three museums in Calais, Dunkerque and Gravelines.
It will consist of three parts: The Barbarians, The Trojan War
and The Kenwood Series at Calais, steel sculptures (1960-2006) at
Dunkerque and paper sculptures and 'dialogues with architecture' at
Gravelines, allowing complementary points of view into the work of the
sculptor from 1960 until today. The joint exhibitions will include almost
100 works, the largest ever show of the artist's work.
At the
Musée des Beaux-Arts et de la Dentelle, Calais, 28 sculptures will be
displayed from three important figurative series The Barbarians,
The Trojan War and the Kenwood Series. This show is a survey of
Anthony Caro's later figurative works, incorporating large elements of
ceramic and wood. The Trojan War series, made in 1993-94, was Caro's
first exploration into narrative sculpture taken from a mythological source.
From the original series of 39 sculptures, 13 will be shown, depicting some
of the mythological gods such as Achilles, Apollo and Aphrodite. The
Barbarians, made in 2000-02, was Caro's second major mythological
sculpture, one complete installation of imposing horse-backed figures and a
horse-drawn cart. The Kenwood Series was Caro's latest series of
works in steel, wood and ceramics around a single theme.
The Lieu d'Art et d'Action Contemporaine (LAAC), Dunkerque will show a
selection of 15 abstract steel works dating from 1960 to 2006 along with
Anthony Caro's first major 'architectural' sculpture Child's Tower Room
(1983/84). The works in this exhibition were first shown in Angers earlier
in the year (see below). Of medium and large scale, they give an insight to
Caro's most important themes and sculptures from early painted pieces to the
recent galvanised sculpture Slow Passage. They indicate Caro's
relentless interest in architecture and spatial exploration. Built and
designed during the 1970s, the museum is situated on a site which formerly
housed allied gun batteries during World War II.
On show at the
Musée du Dessin et de l'Estampe originale de Gravelines, Gravelines will
be the most comprehensive display of Caro's Paper Sculptures ever seen in
one venue: 33 will be on show. The paper sculptures, started in New York in
1981 and continued in Japan in the early 1990s, are on the edge of drawing
and sculpture - exploiting Caro's lyricism. To create a dialogue with the
architecture of the Powder Room in the Arsenal of Vauban's fortifications,
the museum will also present a group of fifteen sculptures: six Table
Pieces, eight works from the Arena series (1995) and two from the Duccio
series (1999-2000). Outside the museum, the monumental steel work
Cathedral (1988-1991) will be on show. |
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Musée des Beaux arts d'Angers, France Anthony Caro
Following its ground-breaking exhibition of drawings and
figurative work by Anthony Caro in 1996, Sculptures et dessins figurative
1950-1990, the Musée des Beaux arts d'Angers starts off a veritable Caro
feast in Northern France with the largest French retrospective so far of the
sculptor's works. The exhibition, which is organised by the museum's chief
curator and Caro specialist Patrick le Nouëne, will include 18 large works
showing highlights of the sculptor's development from 1960 to 2006 and
ranging from the dimensions of a sitting man to the almost 8 metres long
Fathom. |
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Royal Academy of Arts, London Summer Exhibition
This year the visitors to the Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition will be welcomed by Anthony Caro's Promenade, which has
been chosen for display in the courtyard. The large five-part work was
commissioned for a large-scale exhibition of 20th century British sculpture
in Paris in 1996 and displayed in a prominent location in the Tuileries.
Later it has been shown in Holland Park and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Made
entirely of steel, painted grey-green, the sculpture invites people to
interact with it and explore its interior spaces. |
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National Portrait Gallery, St Martins Place, London Anthony Caro: Portraits
Although Anthony Caro is best known for
his abstract sculpture in steel and other materials, he has also made
occasional figurative works throughout his career. This display reveals a
little-known aspect of his work by bringing together a series of bronze
heads of Sheila Girling, the artist's wife and a fine painter in her own
right, which were made in 1988.
The exhibition supplements the display of Anthony
Caro's bust of Lord Goodman, on show to the public for the first time as
part of the re-hang of the National Portrait Gallery's late 20th century
collection in the Balcony Gallery. The 'Artists and Sitters' display groups
portraits of artists, allowing visitors a clearer sense of particular styles
while also showing the great variety of approaches to portraiture in the
late 20th century. |
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New Art Centre, Roche Court, Salisbury
Following the very successful joint exhibition of works by Anthony Caro and his painter-wife Sheila Girling in 2007, Roche Court has been chosen for the display of the important work Millbank Steps, made of corteen steel. The sculpture was commissioned especially for the major retrospective at Tate Britain in 2005 to celebrate Caro's 80th birthday, when it was sited in the Duveen Galleries. A further development of a theme explored in Halifax Steps and Goodwood Steps, it is one of Caro's most ambitious works, once again exploring the relationship between sculpture and architecture. The internal spaces of the structure will encourage visitors to interact with the sculpture and it will look magnificent in the landscape. The sculpture is for sale and the artist hopes it will eventually be sited in a major architectural project somewhere in the world. Alongside Millbank Steps, a number of works from the Flats series (1974) shown last year remain on show at Roche Court. |