EAST WINTERSLOW.- The New Art Centre announced a major exhibition of large-scale sculpture by Anthony Caro, set within the landscape at Roche Court. Installed throughout the park, the show features seven works – dating from the 1970s to the 2000s – which together speak to Caro’s marriage of sculpture and architecture; to his interest in physical and emotional ‘presence’; and to how sculpture on a large scale can create a sense of place, both within itself and through interaction with its surroundings.

These large outdoor works are complemented by a display of four painted steel sculptures from the 1960s and 70s – the works through which Caro initially found his own unique voice and made his international reputation. These works have been installed in the award-winning glass-fronted gallery, which looks out onto the park, creating a dialogue between the indoors and the landscape.

Together, the works – indoors and out – speak to the sheer beauty of Caro’s work, in which he assembles huge cut and welded sheets of metal with a lightness of touch – and a joy in movement - akin to drawing.

A number of the works in the exhibition date from the 1960s and 70s, when Caro was widely considered to be one of the most important new sculptors in the world. In 1975, he was given a full retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, at that time the youngest living artist to be accorded that honour.

Anthony Caro is widely regarded as one of the most important British sculptors of the last century – a British artist with a truly international reputation. His work is held in major museum collections throughout the world.

After studying sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Anthony Caro (1924 - 2013) worked as assistant to Henry Moore. He came to public attention with a show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1963, where he exhibited large abstract sculptures brightly painted and standing directly on the ground, so that they engage the spectator on a one-to-one basis. This was a radical departure from the way sculpture had hitherto been seen and paved the way for future developments in three-dimensional art.

Caro’s teaching at St Martin’s School of Art in London (1953 -1981) was very influential. His questioning approach opened up new possibilities, both formally and with regard to subject matter. His innovative work as well as his teaching led to a flowering and a new confidence in sculpture worldwide.

Caro often worked in steel, but also in a diverse range of other materials, including bronze, silver, lead, stoneware, wood and paper.

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.