(b. New Malden, United Kingdom, 1924, d. London, United Kingdom, 2013)

Sir Anthony Caro played a pivotal role in the development of twentieth century sculpture. During his early career, Caro was an assistant to fellow British sculptor Henry Moore, whose influence is reflected in Caro’s use of heavy materials and juxtapositions of organic, curving lines with sharp geometric abstractions. His breakthrough exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1963 presented brightly painted, abstract steel sculptures displayed without plinths, directly on the floor. At the time, the omission of the pedestal was a radical shift in the dynamic between art and the viewer. He is best known for his works in steel, but also created works in bronze, silver, lead, stoneware, wood, and on paper. Caro’s constant reinvention of the language of abstract sculpture, as well as his influential teaching career at St. Martin’s School of Art, distinguished him not only as the sculptural successor to artists such as Henry Moore and David Smith, but also as an innovative artist who consistently defied convention.

Major exhibitions include retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1975), the Trajan Markets, Rome (1992), the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (1995), Tate Britain, London (2005), and three museums in Pas-de-Calais, France (2008), to accompany the opening of his Chapel of Light at Bourbourg. He has been awarded many prizes, including the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture in Tokyo in 1992 and the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sculpture in 1997. He holds many honorary degrees from universities in the UK, USA and Europe. He was knighted in 1987 and received the Order of Merit in May 2000.

Caro lived and worked in London from 1969 until his death in 2013.