Tony Cragg, Off the Mountain, 2011. Gusseisen © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022. Photo: Michael Richter

VIENNA.- With a selection of key sculptures and drawings from the past two decades, the ALBERTINA, one of the world's most renowned museums, is paying tribute for the first time to the internationally respected work of Tony Cragg, an artist born in Liverpool in 1949 and living in Wuppertal.

In his sculptural work, there is a development from figurative to abstracted form, whereby the artist's handling of sometimes unconventional materials such as fiberglass and Kevlar, in addition to wood, stone and stainless steel, leads to a presence of the sculpture in space, which can be perceived in very different ways.

Tony Cragg, Deep Early Form, 2003. Bronze Patiniert. ALBERTINA,  Wien - Familiensamlung Haselsteiner  © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022. 

Since the 1990s, Cragg has also increasingly turned to drawing, which can be both a sketch and an expression of reflections on questions of form and content. In doing so, the artist likes to work in series in which he deals with the respective representational as well as abstract motifs.

According to Capital magazine's Art Compass, which has been identifying the world's most important contemporary artists for 50 years, Tony Cragg ranks 7th in the Top 100 Contemporary Artists.

Tony Cragg, Compound, 2015. Glass © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022. Photo: Francesco Allegrato

His works are presented in major international museums, including Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum, London's Tate Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, New York, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Lenbachhaus in Munich.

Known for his use of unconventional materials, Tony Cragg has received numerous honors: In 1988, for example, he was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize. He has also been a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London since 1994 and a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin since 2002.

Tony Cragg, Justine, 2015. Leon Tsoukernik Art Collection © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022. Photo: Michael Richter.

From 2009 to 2013, he was rector of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. In 2016, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

His sculpture park "Waldfrieden" in his adopted home of Wuppertal has become one of the most popular art destinations in North Rhine-Westphalia. The successful ntv series Inside Art dedicated an extensive art documentary to Tony Cragg.

The exhibition is mediated and supported, among others, by the Association for Art in Public (AAP) - Dirk Geuer, which has set itself the task of making important art internationally visible. For example, the foundation has made possible the official participation of the Heinz Mack exhibition in the 2022 Venice Biennale.

This is not the first collaboration between Tony Cragg and Dirk Geuer. Already in 2017, there was an exhibition cooperation at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba, and at the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz. Furthermore, both have published two sculpture editions together for the ntv art documentary Inside Art.

Tony Cragg, In Frequencies, 2019 © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022

Dirk Geuer has been associated with the Museum Albertina and its general director, Professor Dr. Klaus Albrecht Schröder, for a long time. In recent years, the Düsseldorf gallery owner has donated numerous editions of works by Jörg Immendorff and Julian Schnabel, among others, to the museum.

Dirk Geuer emphasizes, "The Albertina has the most important graphic arts collection in the world - it is a great institution." He adds, "To donate the editions by Jörg Immendorff and Julian Schnabel that I have published to this collection is a great honor."

Tony Cragg, In No Time, 2019. Holz © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022

Tony Cragg, Integers, 2021. Holz © Tony Cragg / Bildrecht, Wien 2022