Passers-by, one of Tony Cragg’s earlier sculptures presented at the exhibition in Split shows outlines of a fairly large group of people walking and talking. Each character is made out of a spatial network constructed of human figures whose hands, legs and heads are welded thus delineating their form.  This metaphor of humankind’s concatenation is an excellent embodiment of the synergy between three institutions in Split, two public and one private, that from one project to the next keep presenting renowned international artists to the local public, irrespective of financial circumstances and thanks to the enthusiasm of Duje Mrduljaš. Tony Cragg’s exhibition is the pinnacle of this respectable series that positions Split and its cultural life side by side with European capitals. It provides its citizens, particularly students in the School and Academy of Fine Arts, an incomparable experience of viewing works by internationally established artists in familiar environment, instead of, as is here customary, in foreign museums or international manifestations. It is also invaluable that John McCormack from Cragg’s team and Duje Mrduljaš, with an agreement in principle that the Museum of Fine Arts would host monumental sculptures in its atrium, decided to select drawings and sculptures that the artist created from 1993 to 2018, by which they successfully presented the genesis of his work to the public. The exhibitions themselves are also concatenated. As a starting point, drawings and smaller sculptures rendered in wood, synthetic materials and metal,intended for enclosed spaces, are showcased in the Milesi Palace. These two groups show the conceptual and formal trajectory of Cragg’s creativity, as well as diversity in the treatment of form, themes, materials and artistic disciplines. The Kula Gallery as the next stop, is dedicated to three different sculptural units that confront, among other things, Cragg’s sense for the naturalistic and the abstract, and his skill in executing sculptural groups. Finally, the three sculptures in the Museum of Fine Arts’ atrium vary the artist’s inclination towards the swelling monolithic forms in bronze, the type of sculpture Tony Cragg  is most famous for. Together, exhibitions reveal a starting point for the artist’s superior execution of the mathematically precisely rendered modular structure the versions of which, like frozen movement, are fluidly developed in space. It is as if their form was caught at a point of an optimal encounter between human will and universal cosmic laws. Tony Cragg is important to us, because his art proved that the traditionally understood sculptural discipline of rendering three-dimensional objects firmly installed in one spot is not exhausted and that the only measure of artistic creativity is the unlimited artistic imagination that will utilize, subjugate and integrate all obstacles, materials and technologies in a timeless need to realize a personal vision. Therefore, the exhibition of this contemporary classic is the cultural event of the year both in Split and in Croatia. (text Branko Franceschi)

Tony Cragg was born in Liverpool, UK in 1949 and has lived and worked in Wuppertal, Germany since 1977. He has a BA from Wimbledon School of Art, London, UK (1973) and an MA from the Royal College of Art, London, UK (1977).
Among many major solo shows he has exhibited at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK (2017); the National Museum of Havana, Cuba (2017); MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2017);  Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany (2017); Wroclaw Contemporary Art Museum, Wroclaw, Poland (2017); The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, Russia (2016;  Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Germany (2016); Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece (2015); Gothenburg International Sculpture Exhibition, Gothenburg, Sweden (2015); Heydar Aliyev Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan (2014); Musée d’art modern de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France (2014); National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2013); CAFA Museum in Beijing, China (2012);  Musée du Louvre, Paris, France (2011); the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2011); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX, USA (2011); Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, Wuppertal, Germany (2010); Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK (2000); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain (1995), Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands (1991) and Tate Gallery, London, UK (1988).
He represented Britain at the 43rd Venice Biennale in 1988 and in the same year was awarded the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London, UK. He has been a Professor at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts, Paris, France (1999-2009) and Professor at Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf, Germany (2009–present).
He was elected a Royal Academician in 1994; received the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture, Tokyo, Japan (2007); was Awarded the 1st Class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012) and was made a Knight’s Bachelor in 2016.