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  • Anthony Caro b1924
  • Table Piece XXVIII, 1967
  • Painted steel
  • 590 x 1040 x 420mm
  • Presented by the artist 2006
  • Tate © Anthony Caro/Barford Sculptures Ltd
  • T12326
  • View work within Tate Collection
Anthony Caro: Table Piece XXVIII

© Anthony Caro/Barford Sculptures Ltd

One of Anthony Caro's most significant contributions to the history of sculpture was to remove the object from the plinth and place it on the ground. By the mid 1960s this innovation was in danger of becoming an orthodoxy, and consequently Caro began to consider an alternative to ground-based sculpture without returning to the traditional plinth. Working on a domestic scale he began to make sculptures which hang over the edge of the supporting structure. The table piece has become a major motif for Caro, and he has made several hundred such works since the series began. As Caro has observed, 'my Table Pieces are not models inhabiting a pretence world, but relate to a person like a cup or a jug'.

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