Depictions of figures are rare in the work of Anthony Caro, best known for his abstract sculptures made from brightly colored steel. In the Morning depicts a woman stepping into a U-shaped structure that suggests a tub, referencing centuries of intimate depictions of bathers—a classic theme in the history of art. The expressive, textured surface of the figure recalls the work of 19th and early 20th century artists like Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, and Henri Matisse, contrasting with the spare geometry of the tub, more characteristic of Caro’s work in metal. Facial features are only subtly suggested in favor of emphasizing the posture, movement, and weight of the body. This piece evolved out of the Triangle Workshop; an artist residency Caro founded in 1982. The residency brought together artists from New York City, the United Kingdom, and Canada— a “triangle” of areas of influence—who met for two weeks in upstate New York to experiment with ideas and techniques outside of their everyday practice. For Caro, this took him back to a process he had not employed since his student days at the Royal Academy: drawing and modeling from life. In the Morning is deeply steeped in traditional composition practices, beginning with a live model study of a women named Concetta Branson. After drawing the model, Caro built up the figure in clay. The tactility of the practice of building up the woman’s form marks a significant departure from the artist’s usual process of assembling and welding cut steel.  When Caro began exhibiting his figural sculptures in the mid-1980s, he lauded the generative nature of his return to experimentation with traditional studio techniques within his broader practice, saying, “I had not modeled from the figure since the academic exercises of my student days. The experience is rewarding: it is parallel to my main activity of working abstractly directly in metal – I set time aside directly for it; and I have no doubt it will come to feed the mainstream of my work.”(1)

(1) Anthony Caro, Michael Brenson, “Gallery View: An Abstract Sculptor Returns to the Figure.” New York Times, May 18, 1986, www.nytimes.com/1986/05/18/arts/gallery-view-an-abstract- sculptor-returns-to-the-figure.html.