Anthony Caro

Description

In 1998 Anthony Caro exhibited a series of book sculptures in an exhibition surveying his new work held at the Annely Juda Gallery, London. Some of the book pieces were made from stoneware and steel, and another group, slightly smaller, were made of porcelain with either steel or brass elements. Some also included wood, mostly in the form of handles to ready-made objects. The ceramic book forms were made by Hans Spinner at his studio in Grasse, and they were brought to Caro's Camden Town studio in London where he worked on them. Some were reminiscent of his calligraphic sculptures of 1978-79, but all were possible monuments to the book as an entity, threatened as it is today by the worldwide web.

Wilfred Cass saw these sculptures, and liking them very much he asked Caro to enlarge one for Sculpture at Goodwood. It was not possible to make the sculpture in ceramic on the scale that Wilfred desired, so Caro decided to use cast concrete for the form of the book. Most of Spinner's ceramic books have a bulging, expressive quality which could not be replicated exactly in concrete. With the use of wood shuttering to cast the open form of the book, the appearance is changed; it stands fully upright and is much more formal, more pristine in appearance. It is a book that appears not to have been riffled.

The pages are held in place by parts of an anchor. The anchor, an early Christian symbol of hope, was also used, entwined by a dolphin, as an emblem coupled with the motto 'Festina lente' - 'Make haste slowly', a popular Renaissance maxim. If we are to lose the printed page to digital media, perhaps we should tread carefully. In using a split anchor as part of the composition, Caro underlines his message clearly.