The largest-ever European show on the sculptor Anthony Caro, who died in 2013, opens in Yorkshire this weekend. More than 300 works from his 60-year career go on show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Bretton and the Hepworth Wakefield, which are five miles apart. Caro in Yorkshire, which opens on 18 July in both venues (until 1 November), was developed in conjunction with his widow, the painter Sheila Girling, who died in February.
In the 1980s, Caro was uneasy about exhibiting his work outdoors. Peter Murray, the director of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, says that Caro “had reservations about putting sculpture in the landscape and feared that he would lose control over the display”. But Caro later changed his mind and was delighted when the coming exhibition was initially proposed.
The sculpture park show, which will be both indoors and outdoors, focuses on Caro’s interest in materials and painting. The 270 works range from his early terracotta pieces of 1949 up to his last works, completed just months before his death. The early works include five life drawings from 1951-52, with corrections by Henry Moore. At the time, Caro was Moore’s assistant and had not yet switched from figurative to abstract sculpture.
The Hepworth Wakefield presentation will concentrate on Caro’s interest in architecture. It is to comprise 40 works, ranging from jewellery to large-scale painted steel sculptures, including an early steel piece, Twenty-Four Hours (1960). Caro called some of his largest works “sculpitecture”, which viewers can enter. One example will be at the Hepworth: Child’s Tower Room (1984), inspired by a collaboration with the architect Frank Gehry. Around 90% of the loans to both the sculpture park and the Hepworth are coming from Barford Sculptures Ltd, a company set up by Caro and run by his son Paul.
Aurora in Leeds
In Leeds (the third part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle), a large sculpture called Aurora (2003), will be displayed in the city centre. This red-painted steel piece is to be shown outside the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds Art Gallery.
Meanwhile, Londoners have a chance to see a small display titled Art in Dialogue: Duccio/Caro at the National Gallery. Caro’s piece Duccio Variations No.3 (2000) will be shown close to Duccio’s Annunciation (1307-11), until 8 November in room 66.
Caro in Yorkshire, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Hepworth Wakefiled, 18 July-1 November