Sir Anthony Caro Celebration of Achievement at Tate Britain 26/02/14

Sheila Girling, Sharon James and Sir Anthony Caro @ L'Artishe Gallery 

I have been posting some old blogs as I know that my readership has grown and it is difficult to reinvent the wheel every day. I also know that some of my more informative blogs definitely still have some mileage in them. I hope that you have enjoyed reading them.

I was very honoured to have been invited to the Celebration of Achievement of Sir Anthony Caro which took place yesterday at Tate Britain.

There were the art great and the good and surprisingly a fair few chefs. The fact that such a large crowd could manage to be silent during the speeches just showed the amount of respect in the room.

It was a great tribute to him to see so many people gathered together in his memory. There were some moving speeches and it's so encouraging to hear that this giant of the International Art scene was most respected for his humility, modesty and a determination to do better.

I may not of had the pleasure of knowing him for very long but it is amazing how both he and Sheila never wavered in their support of me and the gallery. He would often ask if I thought there was anyone he could write to on my behalf to secure funding for the gallery as he knew the importance of independent galleries. In the end we settled for him submitting a drawing to my Drawing Open Exhibition. What a privilege.
It was said many times last night that he was a man of the people. That much is true, he was so genuinely interested in art and that meant he would happily talk about the work of others with little indication of his own great talent.

My best memory and it will now become a treasured memory is of Tony looking at my bird skull sketchbook and saying that he could quite happily own it. High praise indeed.

It was also good to hear that some of the art initiatives that he was involved in setting up are still doing incredibly well 30 years on. I think it is safe to say that everyone that knew the artist and the man will sorely miss him.

There is however no doubt that he will always be one of the most influential sculptors to come out of Britain and his legacy will live on in future generations.