WUPPERTAL.- The Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal is dedicating a comprehensive retrospective exhibition to Tony Cragg (b. 1949), the most significant British contemporary sculptor. The exhibition encompasses all three floors of the Museum and presents a survey of Cragg’s entire oeuvre, from his student days right up to new works created in 2015. The artist is exhibiting sculptures, drawings, and artwork on paper, including pieces that have never been on display before.

Thematic displays follow the course of the sculptor’s multifaceted artistic development, in which the variety of materials used (including plastic, glass, works on paper, bronze, plaster, and stainless steel) plays a significant part. The series of works that examine the relationship between natural and synthetic forms and structures – including his Stack Sculptures, Vessels and Cells, Early Forms, Rational Beings and his earlier wall installations in plastic – form the other main focal point of the show.

The artist, who served as chancellor of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf until 2013, has received many honours, whether it be the Turner Prize, the Praemium Imperiale, or being named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. He has had exhibitions at the Louvre in Paris, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Tate Gallery London. Since the 1970s he has been living and working in Wuppertal.

Parallel to the exhibition, large outdoor sculptures are on view at the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, which Cragg opened in his adopted city, Wuppertal, in 2008. Visits to the Von der Heydt-Museum and to the Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden can be combined for a wonderful day out, providing fascinating insights into the artist’s world. An exhibition of Henry Moore’s plaster sculptures is being displayed during the same period.

A catalogue is being produced to document the exhibition and Tony Cragg’s oeuvre.