The Cass Sculpture Foundation was a charitable commissioning body based in Goodwood,

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The Foundation's 26-acre grounds were home to an ever-changing display of 80 monumental

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, all of which were available for sale with the proceeds going directly to artists. The Foundation was a self-sufficient body reliant on sales of commissioned sculptures and visitor entrance fees. After a review in 2020, the Foundation's

Trustees Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...

decided to wind up the foundation and the park was closed. The Foundation's

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

of drawings and maquettes was due to be donated to the nearby Pallant House Gallery.

Foundation and artists

Inspired by their own extensive collection of works from artists such as Elisabeth Frink and

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...

, the founders Wilfred and Jeannette Cass embarked on a journey to design a foundation for the world of model sculpture. After research and visits to other sculpture parks such as the Kröller-Müller Museum in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, the

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, also known as the Louisiana, is an art museum located north of Copenhagen, Denmark. Attracting over 700,000 guests annually, the Louisiana is Scandinavia's most visited museum for Modern art, modern and contempor ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and the

Hakone Open-Air Museum The Hakone Open-Air Museum (箱根彫刻の森美術館, ''Hakone Choukoku no Mori Bijutsukan''), opened in 1969, is Japan's first open-air museum. It is located in Hakone, Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture. Hosting over 1,000 piece ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, the Cass Sculpture Foundation was fully established in 1992. The Foundation commissioned over 400 works from both emerging and established artists. Previous commissions included work by Anthony Caro,

Tony Cragg Sir Anthony Douglas Cragg (born Liverpool 9 April 1949) is an Anglo-German sculptor, resident in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. Early life and training Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool."Tony Cragg." ''Contemporary Artists''. Farmington Hills, ...

, Andy Goldsworthy,

Marc Quinn Marc Quinn (born 8 January 1964) is a British contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculpture, installation, and painting. Quinn explores "what it is to be human in the world today" through subjects including the body, genetics, ident ...

, Kiki Smith, and Rachel Whiteread. The foundation’s ambition was to financially support artists so they could perfect their art, try out new mediums, and create the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

. The founders hoped that the commissions would act as a catalyst for sculptors, propelling them to other area of the

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

world, to collaborate with other artists, and to travel. The Foundation marked its twentieth anniversary in 2012 with the

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exhibit of 'Tony Cragg at Exhibition Road'. This exhibit displayed 12 works from renowned British artist

along

Exhibition Road Exhibition Road is a street in South Kensington, London which is home to several major museums and academic establishments, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, London, Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, Lon ...

and its accompanying cultural institutions including the V&A,

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and

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

. This anniversary also saw the Foundation launch a number of new international partnerships. These included working with the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

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, The Creative India Foundation in

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and the Yellow River Arts Centre in Yinchuan, China.

Trustees

* Wilfred Cass - Founder * Jeannette Cass - Founder * Mark Cass - Chairman * Derek Pullen * Dr. Wenny Teo * Sir Michael Peat — ''Private secretary to

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...

'' * Earl of March & Kinrara * David Solomon

Commissioning

CASS was an authority on the commissioning and exhibiting of large-scale sculpture. The organization's charitable objectives were met through the sale of its sculptures. Once a work was sold, CASS split the profit between the artist and the next commission, thereby ensuring that it maintained a rolling collection of new works. The commissioning process could take between 1 and 5 years from conception to completion. During the process, the artists contributed a

maquette A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...

and works on paper to the Foundation's archive for educational purposes Through meeting fabrication costs and other additional costs (including installation and marketing), the Foundation funded artists to work on a very large scale making works several meters high. The Foundation encouraged pioneering and experimental works that challenged the creative processes of each artist to further their careers.

Artists

Sculptors displaying works at the Cass Sculpture Foundation have included: Kenneth Armitage, Anthony Caro, Lynn Chadwick,

, Paul Day, Richard Deacon, Elisabeth Frink, Andy Goldsworthy, Antony Gormley, Thomas Heatherwick, Shirazeh Houshiary, Allen Jones, Phillip King, Bryan Kneale,

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi was born on 7 M ...

, Kiki Smith,

Gavin Turk Gavin Turk (born 1967) is a British artist from Guildford in Surrey, and was considered to be one of the Young British Artists. Turk's oeuvre deals with issues of authenticity and identity, engaged with modernist and avant-garde debates surround ...

, Rachel Whiteread, Bill Woodrow, Manfred Kielnhofer, Jesse Wine, and David Worthington.

References

External links