Sir Anthony Caro Sculpture

Blow after Caro sculpture fails to sell at auction

Hopes of a huge cash investment in art in Peterborough have been dashed after a sculpture by a world-renowned artist failed to sell at auction.

Sir Anthony Caro's piece entitled "Lagoon" will remain for now in the ownership of Peterborough Sculpture Trust after no bidders met a £100,000 to £150,000 reserve price at an auction in London on Wednesday (9 March).

The trust had hoped to use the money to invest in new artists' work but is now reviewing its options after the disappointing outcome to the Bonhams auction, in New Bond Street.

The piece, which was commissioned in 1976 before being purchased by the Peterborough Development Corporation in 1984, will now return to Peterborough and be placed in storage.

Trust member David Bath said: "It is disappointing that it did not sell as we were optimistic it would sell at or above the reserve price."

It will be brought back to Peterborough from London now and go into storage initially.

"It is too early to say where we will go from here and whether we will look to put it up for sale again.

"At this stage we are not putting any of our other pieces up for sale."

There were high hopes for a bumper pay-day for the trust, a charity which relies on fundraising to keep going, as Sir Anthony Caro is considered one of the world's greatest living sculptors.

However, the Lagoon piece was not one of the more popular pieces owned by the trust, according to feedback from visitors to its "Sculpture Trail" in Thorpe Meadows.

It was not as if big bids were not being made at yesterday's 20th Century Art auction, with a painting entitled "Sea Treasures" by Winifred Nicholson selling for £174,000.

Bonhams revealed that a "few" bids had been made on the Caro piece but none of them met the minimum reserve price of £100,000.

The auctioneers declined to comment on the rusted steel sculpture's failure to sell despite 20th Century art director Matthew Bradbury being hopeful of its sale before the auction.

He said: "It is a monumental work in steel, which can only really be fully appreciated when standing in front of it.

"Among the largest pieces by Caro to be offered at auction, the sale of Lagoon was a rare opportunity to acquire a work by him on a vast scale."

The trust had hoped to use the cash windfall to commission several new sculptures by exciting, upcoming artists, both from the Peterborough area and elsewhere in the country.

It was also hoping to boost the cultural offer in the city by running several new artistic workshops for residents of Peterborough.

The trust is in charge of a large body of sculptures which were purchased by the development corporation.

Among the famous artists' works in the care of the trust is a sheet-lead and fibreglass sculpture entitled The Place To Be by Antony Gormley, the famous sculptor who created the Angel Of The North.