2017 Art season

Historic Grounds

19. Ursula von Rydingsvard

"Anastazia"

published at 18/10/2017

Ursula von Rydingsvard’s massive sculptures reveal the mark of the human hand, resembling wooden bowls, tools and walls that seem to echo the artist’s family heritage in preindustrial Poland in the years before the Second World War. She spent her childhood in Nazi labour camps and post-war refugee camps, and her painful early memories imbue her work with great emotional power.

Ursula von Rydingsvard produces tall cedar-wood structures, creating a complex network of individual beams, shaped by sharp-edged, lyrical cutting and glued together to form sensuous puzzle-like surfaces...

She has been awarded numerous prizes, including a Joan Mitchell Prize (1997), an Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1994), and grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1983) and the National Endowment for the Arts (1979, 1986). She was also awarded the International Association of Art Critics’ prize in 1992 and 2000.

She has exhibited at Madison Square Park, New York (2006), the Neuberger Museum, the State University of New York (2002) and Storm King Art Center (1992). Ursula von Rydingsvard lives and works in New York.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Ursula VON RYDINGSVARD
GERMANY

Ursula von Rydingsvard was born in Deensen, Germany, in 1942. She obtained a BA and an MA from the University of Miami, Coral Gables (1965), an MFA from the University of Columbia (1975) and an honorary doctorate from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (1991).

A well-known sculptor, she has lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York, for 30 years. After graduating from the University of Columbia in 1975, she started working with what was to become her preferred material: cedar wood.

She is best known for her large-scale, often monumental sculptures, fashioned from beams of cedar that she cuts up and reassembles, covering them with powdered graphite. She deliberately uses crushed beams of varying lengths.

"These abstract shapes, like signatures, refer to things in the real world, revealing the mark of the human hand while calling natural shapes and forces to mind. Shapes typically include simple vases and bowls. Many are suggestive of tools or other artefacts such as shovels, spoons or fences, or allude to primitive dwellings, to geological formations, to landscape or the body”.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, USA
Barclays Center, Brooklyn, USA
Baruch College, New York, USA
Bloomberg Building, New York, USA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA
Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, USA
Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, USA
De Cordova Sculpture Park + Museum, Lincoln, USA
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, USA
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, USA
Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, USA
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, USA
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, USA
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, USA
Madison Art Center, Madison, USA
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, USA
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, USA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, USA
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, USA
Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, USA
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, USA
Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA
Queens Family Courthouse, Long Island City, USA
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, USA
San Francisco Airport, San Francisco, USA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, USA
Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, USA
T. F. Green Airport, Providence, USA
The Contemporary Austin, Austin, USA
The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA
Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, USA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, USA
Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, USA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA
Williams College, Willamstown, USA
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016
One Wall, One Work, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, USA

2015
Bronze Bowl with Lace, Bluhm Family Terrace, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Giardino della Marinaressa, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

2014
Permeated Shield, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Kloster Schoenthal, Langenbruck, Switzerland

2013
Shadows Remain, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA

2011
Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture 1991-2009, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, USA; travelled through 2012 to deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, USA; and Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, USA

2010
ERRĀTUS, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
New Works with Paper from Dieu Donné and a Recent Sculpture, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, USA
Deckle Deckle, Dieu Donné, New York, USA

2009
Primitive Pull, Pilane, Sweden

2007
Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA

2006
Sylwetka, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Mad. Sq. Art at Madison Square Park, New York, USA

2004
Galerie Lelong Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

2003
Recent Sculpture, Lafayette College, Easton, USA
A Psychological Landscape, Butler Gallery, The Castle, Kilkenny, Ireland
Primitive Jarring, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

2002
On an Epic Scale, Neuburger Museum, SUNY Purchase, New York, USA
Cedar Lace and Tossing Loops, Galerie Lelong, Paris, France

2000
Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, USA
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, USA
Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Galerie Lelong, Zurich, Switzerland

1999
Sculpture, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, USA

1998-1999
Sculpture, Madison Art Centre, Madison, USA; travelled to Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA; Chicago Cultural Centre, Chicago, USA; The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, USA; Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA; and to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, United Kingdom
Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, USA

1997
Sculpture, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

1996
Hand-e-Over, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA

1995
Socks on my Spoons, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, USA

1994
Weatherspoon Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Galerie Lelong, New York, USA

1992-1994
Ten Year Retrospective, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, USA

1992
Zamek Ujazdowski, Contemporary Art Center, Warsaw, Poland

1991
Lorence Monk Gallery, New York, USA

1990
Lorence Monk Gallery, New York, USA
The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, USA
Capp Street Project, San Francisco, USA

1989
Feigenson/Preston Gallery, Birmingham, USA
Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, USA

1988
Exit Art, New York, USA
Laumeier Sculpture Gallery, St. Louis, USA

1985
Studio Bassanese, Trieste, Italy

1984
Bette Stoler Gallery, New York, USA

1982
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, USA

1981
Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, USA

1980
55 Mercer, New York, USA
Jorgensen Gallery, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA

1979
55 Mercer, New York, USA

1978
Robert Freidus Gallery, New York, USA

1977
55 Mercer, New York, USA
SoHo Center for Visual Arts, New York, USA

1975
Columbia University, New York, USA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016
Art Basel Miami Beach with Galerie Lelong, Miami, USA
Intersections: Artists Master Line and Space, Akron Art Museum, Akron, USA
Pure Pulp: Contemporary Artists Working in Paper at Dieu Donné, Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College, Clinton, USA; Williams
Museum of Papermaking, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA; Dedalus Foundation, Brooklyn, USA
A Material Legacy: The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemissegger Collection of Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, USA
Large Sculptures, Marlborough Gallery, New York, USA
The Armory Show with Galerie Lelong, Pier 94, New York, USA
Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women 1947-2016, Hauser, Wirth & Schimmel, Los Angeles, USA

2015
Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA
Ursula von Rydingsvard and Others: Materials and Manipulations, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, USA
Art Basel, Messe Basel, Switzerland
The Annual 2015: The Depth of the Surface, National Academy, New York, USA

2014
Frieze Masters, Regent's Park, London, United Kingdom
Branching Out: Trees as Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, USA
Drawings & Works on Paper, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Fact of the Matter, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Gallery, New York, USA

2013
Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Year 1, Industry City, Brooklyn, USA
Glasstress: White Light/ White Heat, Collateral Event of the 55^th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Istituto Veneto di Scienze ed Arti, Venice, Italy
Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA; travelled to Mint Museum, Charlotte, USA

2012
Wunderkammer/ Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects: 13^th International Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy
An Odyssey: A Narrative of the Fabric Workshop and Museum, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, USA
Every Exit is an Entrance: 30 Years of Exit Art, Exit Art, New York, USA
HERe First: Woman as Protagonist, The Art Show 2012, Park Avenue Armory, New York, USA
The Annual: 2012: Contemporary Since 1826, National Academy Museum, New York, USA
Glasstress New York: New Art From The Venice Biennales, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA
Do Not Destroy: Trees Art and Jewish Thought, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, USA

2011
Glasstress 2011, Collateral Event of the 54^th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia, Istituto Veneto di Scienze ed Arti, Venice, Italy
Lynen: Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Ursula von Rydingsvard and Kiki Smith, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, USA
Four Sculptors 1968-1980, Lesley Heller Workspace, New York, USA
Fifty Works for Fifty States: The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, USA

2010
5+5:New Perspectives, Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, USA
Sculpture: Twelve Independent Visions, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, USA

2009
With You I Want to Live: The Collection of Francie Bishop Good & David Horvitz, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, USA
Landmarks, The Public Art Program of the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, USA
Sculpture at Pilane 2009, Tjorn, Sweden

2008
Exhibition of Works by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, USA
Sculpture: A Wyoming Invitational, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA
A Year in Drawing, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Origins, Hudson Valley Centre for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, USA
Drawn by Sculptors, William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis, USA

2007
Out There, The Art Students League of New York, New York, USA
Blickachsen 6, Galerie Scheffel, Bad Homburg Kurpark in collaboration with Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bad Homburg, Germany

2006
POZA, Real Art Ways, Hartford, USA
From Postwar to Postmodernism, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University School of the Arts, USA
The Bong Show, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, USA
Out of Line: Drawings from the Collection of Sherry and Joel Mallin, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA

2005
The Art of 9/11, Apexart, New York, USA
City Art, Centre for Architecture, New York, USA
Eco-photo: Art as if Nature Mattered, Dorsky Gallery, Long Island City, USA
Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place, Laumeier Sculpture Park and Museum, St. Louis, USA; traveling through 2008 to Museum of Art and History, McPherson Centre, Santa Cruz, CA; Palm Springs Art Museum, USA; University of Arizona, USA; Amarillo Museum of Art, USA; Memphis Brooks, USA; Herron School of Art, Purdue, USA; Cheekwood Museum and Botanical Garden, USA; Columbia Museum of Art, SC; Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, USA; Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, USA
New at the Neuberger: Recent Acquisitions, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, USA

2004
Life Understood, Hill Gallery, Birmingham, USA
Ten, Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, USA
Picasso to Thiebaud: Modern and Contemporary Art, (from the permanent collection) Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, USA
The 179^th Annual An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, USA

2002
Lesley Dill and Ursula Von Rydingsvard, Byron C. Cohen Gallery, Baltimore, USA
Shift, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Primal Screams and Songs: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, USA
globe>miami>island, Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington, USA
Encounter at the Bass Museum: Installation Performances, Bass Museum, Miami, USA

2001
Clay On The Wall, Gallery 128, New York, USA
Silver and Gold, Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, USA
The End: An Independent Vision of the History of Contemporary Art, Exit Art, New York, USA

1999-2001
KolnSkulptur 2, Cologne, Germany

1999
GEEZE LOUISE, Art After Louise Nevelson, Educational Alliance Gallery, USA
Drip, Blow, Burn: Forces of Nature in Contemporary Art, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, USA

1998
Sculptors and Their Environments, Pratt Institute, New York, USA
Masters of the Masters: MFA Faculty of the School of Visual Arts, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, USA

1997
A Moveable Feast, David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, USA
Wood Work, Fisher Landau Centre, Long Island City, USA

1995-1996
The Shape of Sound, Exit Art, New York City, USA
Beyond Gender, Snug Harbor Cultural Centre, Staten Island, USA

1995
Body as Metaphor, Procter Art Centre, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, USA
American Sculpture: A Contemporary Perspective, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, USA
Crossing Counties: 20^th Century Art from Private Collections in Westchester and Fairfield Counties, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, New York, USA

1994-1995
Landscape as Metaphor, Columbus Art Museum, Columbus, USA and Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA

1994
Beyond Nature: Wood into Art, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, USA
American Academy Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, USA
Group Show, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Three Rivers Art Festival, Pittsburgh, USA
Landscape not Landscape, Gallery Camino, Boca Raton, USA

1993
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, USA
Drawings, Montgomery Glasoe Fine Art, Minneapolis, USA
The Second Dimension: Twentieth Century Sculptors’ Drawings from the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA
Group Show, Galerie Lelong, New York, USA
Grounds for Sculpture, Johnson Atelier, Technical Institute of Sculpture, Merceville, USA

1992
Zygmunt, A Collaboration by Judy Pfaff and Ursula von Rydingsvard, The Cultural Space, New York, USA
Then & Now, Philippe Staib Gallery, New York, USA

1991
The Hybrid State, Exit Art, New York, USA
Five Central European Artists, Cultural Centre, Chicago, USA
Sowers of Myth, Cultural Centre, Chicago, USA
Jestesmy, Central Bureau for Art Exhibitions-ZACHETA, Warsaw, Poland; travelled to Krakow, Poland

1990
Out of Wood, Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art, Philip Morris Branch, New York, USA
The Art of Drawing, Lehman College of Art Gallery, Bronx, USA
Diverse Representations, The Morris Museum, Morristown, USA

1989-1993
Recent Acquisitions, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

1989
New Acquisitions, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, USA

1989-90
100 Drawings by Women, Hillwood Art Gallery, C. W. Post, Greenvale, USA
Blum-Helman, New York, USA

1989
Totem, Addison Gallery, Phillips Academy, Andover, USA
Ellen Driscoll, Robert Lobe, and Ursula von Rydingsvard, Damon Brandt Gallery, New York, USA
Encore: Celebrating Fifty Years, The Contemporary Arts Centre, Cincinnati, USA Sculpture, Krygier/Landau Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

1988
Life Force, Robeson Centre Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, USA
Home Show, Santa Barbara Contemporaty Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, USA

1987
Sculpture of the Eighties: Aycock, Ferrara, Frank, Lasch, Miss, Pfaff, Saar, Sperry, von Rydingsvard, Zucker, Queens Museum, Flushing, USA
Standing Ground, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA
The Levels of Volume, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, USA

1985
Selections from the Collection, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefeild, USA
Judith Murrary and Ursula von Rydingsvard, Hillwood Art Gallery, C.W. Post Campus, Greenvale, USA
In Three Dimensions: Recent Sculptures by Women, Pratt Institute Gallery, Brooklyn, USA
Sculpture: Penns Landing, Philadelphia, USA

1984
Henri Gallery, Washington, USA
The Ways of Wood, OIA, Queens College, USA
Transformation of the Minimal Style, Sculpture Centre, New York, USA
Contemporary Art at One Penn Plaza, New York, USA
Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, USA

1983
The Inaugural Exhibition of Six Sculptors, Bette Stoler Gallery, New York, USA
55 Mercer/12 Years, 55 Mercer Gallery, New York, USA

1981
Architecture by Artists, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, USA
55 Mercer: 10 Sculptors, Fine Arts Gallery, Stony Brook, USA

1980
Sculpture exhibition in conjunction with the XI International Sculpture Conference, The Maryland Institute, College Art Gallery, Baltimore, USA
Nineteen at Twenty Six, 26 Federal Plaza, New York, USA
Site Sights: Outdoor Sculpture at Pratt, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, USA

1979-80
NY/8, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, USA

1979
Twin Tower I, New York City, a sculpture installation

1978
Artists by the Sea, Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, USA
Small Works, 55 Mercer, New York, USA
Seven Sensibilities, Thorpe Intermediate Gallery, Sparkill, USA
Indoor-Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, P.S. 1 (Institute for Art and Urban Resources), Long Island City, USA

1977
Wood and Other Works, Central Hall Gallery, Port Washington, USA
Wood, Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, Roslyn, USA

1976
This Doesn’t Look Like a Work of Art II, Truman Gallery, New York, USA
Contemporary Reflections, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, USA

1975
Queensborough Community College, Bayside, USA
Bronx Museum of Art, Bronx, USA
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, USA
Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, USA

On the web

Ursula von Rydingsvard