Ursula Von Rydingsvard

Installation Images

Selected Works

Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Untitled, 2019
Handmade linen paper and pigment
30h x 22 1/2w inches
Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Untitled, 2019
Silk scarf, thread, pigment, paper pulp and handmade linen paper
37 1/2h x 23w inches
Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Untitled, 2019
Handmade linen paper and pigment
30 1/2h x 22 1/2w inches
Ursula von Rydingsvard
NABOSAKA, 2021
Cedar and graphite
90h x 35w x 13d inches
Ursula Von Rydingsvard
PATA, 2020
Cedar
74h x 27w x 10 1/2d inches

Biography

Over a remarkable four-decade-long career, Ursula von Rydingsvard has become one of the most influential sculptors working today. She is best known for creating large-scale, often monumental sculpture from cedar beams, which she painstakingly cuts, assembles, and laminates before finally rubbing a graphite patina into the work’s textured, faceted surfaces. Her signature abstract shapes refer to things in the real world — vessels, bowls, tools, and other objects — each revealing the mark of the human hand while also summoning natural forms and forces. In recent years, von Rydingsvard has explored other mediums in depth, such as bronze, paper, and resin, continuing to expand upon her unique artistic vocabulary.

Von Rydingsvard’s work is represented in the permanent collections of more than four dozen museums and institutions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minnesota; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri; Storm King Art Center, New York; and Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan. Permanent commissioned sculptures by von Rydingsvard are on view in multiple public locations including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Microsoft Corporation, Washington; Princeton University, New Jersey; Bloomberg Corporation, New York; and Barclays Center, New York; among others. Recent solo museum exhibitions include Ursula von Rydingsvard: The Contour of Feeling at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Pennsylvania and Now, She, a presentation of large-scale outdoor sculptures at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Von Rydingsvard was born 1942 in Deensen, Germany. She has lived and worked in New York City for over 40 years.

Documentary

A 57-minute documentary on her life, Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own, can be viewed on multiple streaming platforms.

Exhibitions

On-site and Individual Works

Ursula Von Rydingsvard

Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Talley Dunn Gallery
January 22 – April 9, 2022

Off-site

Ursula Von Rydingsvard

The Sky’s the Limit
National Museum of Women in the Arts
October 21, 2023 – February 25, 2024

Ursula Von Rydingsvard

Now, She: Two Sculptures by Ursula von Rydingsvard
Philadelphia Museum of Art
April 16, 2018 – August 2020

Ursula Von Rydingsvard

Ursula Von Rydingsvard: The Contour of Feeling
National Museum of Women in the Arts
March 22 – July 18, 2019

Videos

Press

Artforum

“‘Ursula von Rydingsvard: National Museum of Women in the Arts”
by Zachary Fine
2023

New York Times

“‘Into Her Own’ Review: A Sculptor’s Monumental Achievements”
by Glenn Kenny
May 28, 2020