Christie’s to Auction Sir Anthony Caro’s Remarkable Collection

Christie’s is pleased to announce that works from the collection of Sir Anthony Caro will be featured in the Spring Marquee Week in New York, as part of the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale. This remarkable selection includes pieces from Caro’s collection, alongside leading works by his close friends and fellow artists, such as Kenneth Noland, Helen Frankenthaler, and Hans Hofmann.

"We are thrilled to offer works from the collection of Anthony Caro, a celebrated sculptor and champion of fellow artists." - Rachael White Young, Senior Specialist and Head of Core Market Sales at Christie’s New York

Known for his striking abstract sculptures, Anthony Caro played a central role in the development of 20th-century sculpture. Trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London, Caro began his career in 1951 assisting the renowned Henry Moore, which influenced his early exploration of modernist figuration. Over the following decades, his practice underwent a significant shift, shaped by his transatlantic journey and encounters with key American abstractionists, including Clement Greenberg.

In 1959, Caro received a Ford Foundation scholarship, which took him to the United States, where he visited museums, galleries, and art schools across the country. During this time, he met important figures such as Helen Frankenthaler, Kenneth Noland, and David Smith. These initial connections grew into lasting friendships and played a key role in Caro’s decision to break from figuration and radically reinvent the language of sculpture.

A particular highlight of the collection is Kenneth Noland’s Purkinje Effect (estimate: $1,000,000 – 1,500,000), an impressive ‘chevron’ painting from 1964, part of a series Noland only produced for three years. This work demonstrates the symmetry and chromatic sophistication that defined Noland’s innovative compositions.

The collection also features works by the iconic Helen Frankenthaler, with whom Caro had a close creative relationship. Frankenthaler’s Hansel and Gretel (estimate: $700,000 – 1,000,000) is among the sale’s top highlights, showcasing her remarkable colour-staining technique. The pigment is absorbed directly into the unprimed canvas, creating fluid, spontaneous chromatic effects. Caro and Frankenthaler shared a fruitful artistic collaboration; in 1972, she created her first body of sculpture with Caro in London, and ten years later, Caro experimented with acrylic painting in her New York studio.

Selected highlights from the collection will be on view in London in March, with the full collection available for viewing at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries ahead of the sale in May.