Sale: 541 / Contemporary Art Day Sale, June 09. 2023 in Munich Lot 123

 

123
Anthony Caro
Up the Ante, 2009.
Rust steel and cast iron
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 91,440 / $ 98,755

(incl. surcharge)
Up the Ante. 2009.
Rust steel and cast iron.
Barely legibly inscribed on the reverse. 296 x 131 x 81 cm (116.5 x 51.5 x 31.8 in).

• Experimenting with the effect of lightness and heaviness – regardless of the materials – is a key element of Anthony Caro's art.
• Along with David Smith, Caro is one of the most prominent representative of steel scultping after WW II.
• His works can be found in many acclaimed museums, among them the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Barcelona, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Tate Gallery, London
.

Accompanied by a certificate issued by Paul Caro on October 20, 2014 (in copy).

PROVENANCE: Private collection Austria (since 2014).

EXHIBITION: Upright Sculptures, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York / Annely Juda Fine Art, London, April 14 - December 4, 2010.

With his sculptures created from 1950 onward, Anthony Caro put our traditional understanding of sculpting to the test in a radial manner. For example, with his famous welded "Table Pieces" he explored the tension between hardness and lightness, as well as the boundaries of (used) space and sculpture and devoted himself to the problem of the base, or rather the omission of it. Together with one of his early companions, the American sculptor David Smith, he was one of the most important representatives of steel sculpting after World War II. When Smith died in a car accident in 1965, Caro bought 37 tons of raw material from his studio for his sculptures.

Rust steel plays a special role in his sculptural oeuvre. He began using this form of steel in his floor sculptures from around 1970, using scraps from a rolling mill, among other things. During this creative phase, a tendency towards vertically striving compositions becomes apparent. This tendency also shows its impact in the present late work "Up the Ante" from 2009, in which a fundamental field of tension in Caro's artistic exploration can be observed: experimenting with horizontal, vertical or diagonal structures, which can appear light or very heavy, regardless of their actual material qualities, or even in marked contradiction to them. In "Up the Ante" he also plays with this central motif of his work and sets exciting accents, which he comments on with a wink through the given work title. The steel construction, which appears solid at first glance, is enlivened by the sculptor's skillful use of subtle, varying elements. The associative reference to a machine underscores the powerful character of the larger-than-life sculpture and allows the uniquely abstract design language to be clearly present, which Anthony Caro developed over decades in the experimental use of form and material, and underscores his importance as a visionary 20th century sculptor. [AM]



123
Anthony Caro
Up the Ante, 2009.
Rust steel and cast iron
Estimate:
€ 80,000 / $ 86,400
Sold:
€ 91,440 / $ 98,755

(incl. surcharge)