Major Tony Cragg sculpture show across Yorkshire at Castle Howard & York Minster

Internationally renowned sculptor Tony Cragg will present a landmark exhibition of works at Castle Howard and York Minster, opening on 3 May 2024. The new collaboration between the two iconic Yorkshire venues will see over 30 works by Cragg go on display.

Tony Cragg at Castle Howard (3 May to 22 September 2024) will be the first major exhibition by a leading contemporary artist to be held at the historic estate. Castle Howard is Britain’s most famous country house, recognised by millions across the world as the location for Brideshead Revisited and Bridgerton. Its setting is amongst the most spectacular of any building in the UK and one of the most historically significant in Europe.

Major works by Cragg will be shown in Castle Howard’s historic interiors and across its grounds, including a work within the celebrated ‘Temple of the Four Winds’. Cragg’s magnificent sculpture Over The Earth (2015) will be presented outside for the first time. Sculptures and works on paper will be on display inside the house, including work in the Great Hall.

Tony Cragg: Field of Heaven (3 May – 29 September 2024) will see Cragg’s large, multipartite sculpture go on display inside the Chapter House at York Minster. Field of Heaven is one of Cragg’s most important works and was inspired by the artist’s time in Siena and his experience of the landscapes of Tuscany. Made of hundreds of sandblasted glass vessels that have been carefully stacked together, the work will sit in dialogue with the Minster’s stained glass windows. Two large sculptures will also be installed outside in Dean’s Park.

The exhibitions celebrate Cragg’s rich sculptural imagination, showing the diverse ways and materials he deploys to make sculpture. It demonstrates the importance of sculpture as an art form today, giving us surprising, hybrid forms that challenge our thoughts and emotions. The exhibition also highlights the important role drawing plays in helping the artist explore his ideas and develop his sculptural thinking. A catalogue by curator Dr Jon Wood will include an interview with the artist.

Victoria and Nicholas Howard, Castle Howard, said:

“We’ve always loved the work of Tony Cragg and are therefore delighted that the first contemporary sculpture exhibition at Castle Howard should be dedicated to him. Castle Howard is renowned for its wonderful collection of classical sculpture and we can’t wait to see how Cragg’s work interplays with the collection and highlights the wonder and relevance of this art form for today’s audiences.”

Canon Maggie McLean, York Minster’s Canon Missioner said:

“We are absolutely delighted that York Minster will be hosting three exceptional works by Tony Cragg in the Chapter House and outside in Dean’s Park.   We think people will be moved, fascinated and excited by the juxtaposition of his extraordinary contemporary sculptures within the Minster’s ancient medieval gothic setting.”

Tony Cragg has been working and exhibiting since 1969. He participated in documenta 7 and 8 and represented Britain at the Biennale in Venice in 1988. He was awarded the Turner Prize in 1988, the prestigious Praemium Imperiale Award, Tokyo in 2007 and the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award in 2017. He has lived in Wuppertal since 1977.

He has held professorships in the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he was director from 2009 to 2013. He has exhibited extensively in museums worldwide: Tate Gallery, London (1988), Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (1989), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh and Musée du Louvre, Paris (2011), Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2013), Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal and Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2016) and Boboli Gardens, Florence (2019).