John Carter : On Paper

John Carter RA has made some of the most beautiful and lucid artworks of the last fifty years. The apparent simplicity and directness of his abstract reliefs belie an ambiguity that extends even to their definition, as Carter seeks subtly to reimagine the relationship between sculpture and painting.

Carter is best known for his 'wall objects', shallow sculptures based on abstract mathematical formulae. He begins each work with notebook sketches, moving on to larger, measured drawings. It is these drawings - taken from throughout Carter's career - that this book presents. Each drawing is a fascinating model of colour abstraction, with commentary by the artist.

Carter's drawings reveal the originality of his mind and the love of exactitude and clarity that drives his practice. His singular contribution to the post-war flowering of British abstraction can clearly be seen here.

Book Features:

• John Carter, the important post-war abstract sculptor, presents his works on paper
• Reveals the beauty of his mathematically rigorous explorations

110 colour images

About the Author

Stephen Bann CBE FBA is the Emeritus Professor of History of Art at the University of Bristol. He writes on the work of a number of contemporary artists, and his work on the dissemination of print images - with an emphasis on nineteenth-century France - has been widely influential.