It was thanks to the private initiative of Tony Cragg, a British sculptor living in Wuppertal, that the Sculpture Park was founded and established. Thirty years after Cragg took up his exhibition activity, he began looking for a permanent site for presenting sculpture outdoors and discovered the abandoned Waldfrieden property, which he bought in 2006. That very same year he began redesigning the park grounds and the buildings that, after long years of vacancy, needed to be thoroughly renovated and modernized. In appreciation of the historical estate, its former structures and material substance were preserved to the greatest extent possible, thus keeping its historical dimension intact despite the conversion of the park and buildings to accommodate their new use. In 2008, the Sculpture Park was opened under the auspices of the Cragg family’s nonprofit foundation. It houses a steadily growing collection of sculpture, including examples from Tony Cragg’s own large oeuvre. All is accompanied by changing exhibitions of internationally known artists, lectures on culture and the humanities, as well as concerts. Beyond this, the Cragg Foundation is also dedicated to research on, and the publication of, the subject of the fine arts.
Tony Cragg was born 1949 in Liverpool. After graduating from school he worked as a laboratory technician in biochemical research and during this 2-year stint began drawing thus being able to successfully apply for a place at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design in 1969 and subsequently at the Wimbledon School of Art. In 1973 his art studies led him to the Royal College of Art in London, where he focused on sculpture. Input from Minimalism and Land Art influenced his early days as an artist, and he began to work with objets trouvés before he discovered traditional materials like stone, iron and bronze. In 1976 a teaching post led him to the École des Beaux-Arts in Metz. In the following year he moved to Wuppertal, the native city of his first wife and where he has lived and worked ever since. In 1978 he took up a teaching post at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and as of 1988 as a professor until he transferred to the University of Arts in Berlin for a chair in sculpture. In 2006 he returned to the Düsseldorf Art Academy where he was appointed to the position of principal in 2009 until 2014. Since 1977, in an almost bewildering array of exhibitions, Anthony Cragg, has presented his work in renowned museums around the world. He was represented several times at the Venice Biennale and the Documenta in Kassel, as well as at the biennials of Sao Paulo and Sydney. In 1988, he was awarded the Turner Prize. After receiving several honorary doctorates and many other eminent prizes he was created Commander of the British Empire in 2003. Considered to be one of the major present-day sculptors, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale, the world cultural prize of the Japanese imperial court in 2007.