Prairie (sculpture)

Prairie
ArtistAnthony Caro
Year1967
MediumSteel
Dimensions96.5 cm × 582 cm × 320 cm (38 in × 229 in × 126 in)

Prairie is a 1967 multi-piece, painted, constructed steel sculpture; created by the British sculptor Anthony Caro.

Prairie was first purchased during its debut at the Kasmin Gallery in London by the Boston-based collector of modern art, Lewis P. Cabot of the Cabot family.[1] One of the main visual components of the work are the steel rods positioned to give the optical illusion as if one is on a "prairie". Prairie was also the trade name of a dusty shade of yellow paint which colours the sculpture.[2]

Prairie appears on the cover of ArtForum in February 1968; while art historian Michael Fried writing in ArtForum, expressed that [he believes] "Prairie is a masterpiece, one of the great works of modern art, a touchstone for future sculpture".[3] In an interview of Anthony Caro in the Paris Review, Caro himself said that Prairie was the most abstract sculpture he made.[4]

References

  1. ^ Stanners, Sarah (18 July 2016). "Sight Unseen: Anthony Caro's Prairie, 1967". British Art Studies (3). doi:10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-03/sstanners. Archived from the original on 1 September 2025.
  2. ^ MacCormac, Richard. "When art meets architecture – Tate Etc". Tate. Archived from the original on 11 July 2025. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  3. ^ Fried, Michael (1 February 1968). "Two Sculptures by Anthony Caro". Artforum. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
  4. ^ Ramchandani, Ariel (24 May 2011). "Anthony Caro by Ariel Ramchandani". Archived from the original on 20 September 2024.