Sculptor
Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool in 1949 and has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. He studied at the Wimbledon School of Art (1969-1973) and the Royal College of Art (1973-1977) in London. He taught at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (1978-2001) and the Universität der Künste in Berlin (2001-2006), and later served as director of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf from 2009 to 2013. He held the Chaire de Création Artistique at the Collége de France in Paris from 2013 to 2014.
In 1988, he represented Britain at the 43rd Venice Biennale and was awarded the Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1994 and was awarded Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002. He received the Japanese Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture in 2007 and was awarded the 1st Class Order of Merit of Federal Republic of Germany in 2012. He was made Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in 2016.
Among his many major solo shows, Cragg has exhibited extensively in museums worldwide, including Museo Nazionale Romano Terme di Diocleziano, Rome (2024); Castle Howard, York, England (2024); Kunstpalast Düsseldorf (2024); Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2023); Kistefos Museum, Jevnaker, Norway (2023); Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2023); the Albertina Museum, Vienna (2022); Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany (2021, 2007); Houghton Hall, Norfolk, England (2021); Museo Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia, São Paulo (2019); Boboli Gardens, Florence, Italy (2019); Istanbul Modern (2018); Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran (2017); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefeld, England (2017); Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, Havana, (2017); Le Musée d’Art Contemporain du Luxembourg (2017); Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany (2017); Muzeum Wspólczesne Wrocław, Poland (2017); The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (2016); Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal (2016); Benaki Museum, Athens (2015); Gothenburg International Sculpture Exhibition, Sweden (2015); Madison Square Park Conservancy, New York (2014); Heydar Aliyev Center, Baku, Azerbaijan (2014); Musée d’art modern et contemporian de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, France (2013); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2013); the Central Academy of Fine Arts Beijing, Museum of Contemporay Art Chengdu and Shanghai Himalayas Museum, China (2012); the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh (2011); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas (2011); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2011); Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany (2009); Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria (2009); Unteres Belvedere, Vienna (2008); Museo de Arte de Lima-MALI, Peru (2007); Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2006); the Central House of Artists, Moscow (2005); Neues Museum Nürnberg, Germany (2005); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2004); Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany, (2003); Museo MACRO, Rome (2003); Tate Liverpool, England (2000); the Royal Academy of Arts, London (1999); Whitechapel Gallery, London (1997, 1981); MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (1997); Toyota Municipal Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan (1997); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (1995); Centre Pompidou, Paris, (1996); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (1993, 1991); Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Texas (1991); Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California (1990); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (1989); Tate Gallery, London (1989); Hayward Gallery, London (1987); Documenta, Kassel, Germany (1987, 1982); the Brooklyn Museum, New York City (1986); and the Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands (1982).
Photo credit: Tony Cragg, Photo by David Kaluza, 2007, Courtesy the Artist and Lisson Gallery
