Viewing Caro and North American Painters

Lauded as one of the greatest sculptors of his generation, Anthony Caro is best known for his large-scale abstract constructions made from steel, bronze, lead and wood. His breakthrough came in 1963 when he presented a series of brightly painted, abstract steel sculptures directly on the floor of the Whitechapel Gallery, prompting a radical shift in the dynamic between art and viewer.

This exhibition presents a selection of Caro’s floor sculptures from the 1960s and 70s alongside contemporaneous paintings by his American friends and peers including Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland and Larry Poons. Following a trip to America in 1959, Caro began welding and bolting together steel beams, plates, tubes and other elements, and experimenting with bold, flat colours. As seen here, Caro’s innovations in composition, geometry and the use of colour and space had echoes in the work of the ‘Color Field’ painters he admired. Add to your calendar now.