The artistCircled, but not constrained
ImagesCircled, but not constrained
An Introduction
Ursula von Rydingsvard
Ursula von Rydingsvard

Von Rydingsvard's sculpture isn't easy to categorize. It has qualities that sound contradictory. Her work is abstract, yet highly evocative; based on geometry, but irregular in form and surface; large-scale, yet intimate in effect, it is simultaneously primitive and elegant. Her sculpture is informed by influences as disparate as Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. Even her working method includes the polar extremes of building (the layering of cedar boards) and carving (she employs hand and power tools to shape and define her sculpture).

In a sense, Ursula von Rydingsvard's sculpture serves as a bridge between many movements that have shaped twentieth-century art. Her approach is pragmatic. Surveying the forms and techniques associated with modern and contemporary sculpture, she reinvents those that fit her expressive purposes. Her sculpture serves as a connector between abstraction and the world of real things, like tableware, farm implements and other domestic objects subtly referenced in her work. They resonate with a sense of history and human life. Despite her sculpture's complex origins, they are imbued with a cohesive, refreshingly direct quality. Von Rydingsvard employs repetitive processes, layering and removing material like the natural forces of erosion. Yet this methodical approach allows for a high degree of improvisation. Her sculpture seems to take form in a subconscious state, where the artist's mind makes connections based on the shapes that appear before her. Ultimately, von Rydingsvard's work coalesces around the strong vision, ideas and personal experiences that have directed her art for decades and anointed it with a distinct and original character.

Stephen Fleischman
Director
Madison Art Center

Excerpted with permission from the introduction to the exhibition catalogue "Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture", Madison Art Center, 1998

A Brief Biography of the Artist

1942
Born July 26 in Deensen, Germany, to Ignacy and Kunegunda Karoliszyn. During a five-year period beginning in 1945, the family of nine remained together but moved frequently, living in German refugee camps for displaced Poles.

1950
The Karoliszyns emigrate to the United States and settle in Plainville, Connecticut.
1960-1962
Enters the University of New Hampshire, Durham. Studies include drawing and painting (with Christopher Cook) and art history (with Jim Fasanelli).
1962-1965
Receives B.A. and M.A. from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Marries Milton von Rydingsvard in 1963.
1969-1970
Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Gives birth to daughter, Ursula Ann von Rydingsvard.
1971-1973
Moves to New Britain, Connecticut; studies painting and drawing at the New School for Social Research, New York.
Image 81973-1974
Divorces Milton von Rydingsvard. Enters Master of Fine Arts program at Columbia University, New York; professors include Ronald Bladen, Jean Linder, Meyer Schapiro, George Sugarman and Sahl Swarz. Works at The Museum of Modern Art during the summer. Explores welded steel as a medium for sculpture.
1975
Receives M.F.A. in sculpture from Columbia University. Attends classes led by Dore Ashton at Cooper Union. Initiates use of cedar, later to become a signature element of her work. Receives Fulbright-Hays Grant to travel to Poland; political unrest prevents immediate travel.
1977-1978
Joins 55 Mercer, an artists' cooperative based in SoHo. In addition to solo exhibitions at 55 Mercer and at Robert Freidus Gallery, New York, von Rydingsvard's work is included in Wood at Nassau County Museum of Fine Arts, Roslyn, New York, and in Indoor-Outdoor Exhibition at the Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Long Island City, New York. Receives grant from New York State Council on the Arts. Appointed assistant professor, Pratt Institute, New York. Meets artists Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt and Robert Ryman.
Image 41979
Exhibits two major works: Koszarawa, in Wave Hill: The Artist's View, New York and at the Neuberger Museum, State University of New York; and Song of a Saint (Saint Eulalia), Artpark, Lewiston, New York. Receives grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
1980
Commissioned to create Saint Martin's Dream by Art on the Beach program sponsored by Creative Time, Battery Park City landfill, New York. Receives grant from Creative Artists Program Service. Travels to Guatemala and Mexico. Appointed assistant professor, Fordham University, New York.
1981
Teaches at the School of Visual Arts, New York. Returns to Europe for the first time since her family's emigration; visits France and Italy.
1982
Appointed assistant, then associate professor, Sculpture Department, Yale School of Art, Connecticut. Meets artist Judy Pfaff.
Image 91983
Granted Guggenheim Fellowship. Commissioned by City of Dayton, Ohio, to participate in Dayton City Beautiful Project.
1984
Participates in group exhibition, Contemporary Art at One Penn Plaza, New York. Awarded Mark di Suvero Athena Foundation Grant.
1985
Marries neuroscientist Paul Greengard. Solo exhibition at Studio Bassanese, Trieste, Italy. Included in Selections from the Collection, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut. Receives Griswald Travel Grant from Yale University and travels to Poland.
1986
Receives appointment in the Graduate Division, School of Visual Arts, New York. Awarded Individual Artists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Continues travels; visits Scandinavia. Initiates use of graphite in combination with cedar.
1987
Featured in a number of group exhibitions, including Sculpture of the Eighties: Aycock, Ferrara, Frank, Lasch, Miss, Pfaff, Saar, Sperry, von Rydingsvard, Zucker (Queens Museum of Art, Flushing, New York; and Standing Grounds (Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio). Awarded second Individual Artists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Returns to Italy.
1988
Solo exhibitions at Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, Missouri, and at Exit Art, New York. Work enters the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; and the Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis Group exhibition in Santa Barbara, California. Travels to France.
1989
Solo exhibitions at Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Feigenson/Preston Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan. Group exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Father dies.
1990
Produces work for Capp Street Project, San Francisco, and for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Work enters permanent collection of the Walker Art Center. Solo exhibitions at The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia and Lorence-Monk Gallery, New York. Group exhibition, Out of Wood, at the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris, New York. Visits Poland.
1991
Receives honorary doctorate from Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore. Group exhibition at Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland.
1992
Solo exhibitions at Center for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland, and Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, New York. Collaborates with Judy Pfaff to create an installation for the Cultural Space/The Laboratory, New York. Work enters the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Travels to Norway.
1993
Travels to Ireland.
1994
Solo exhibitions at Metro Tech Plaza, Brooklyn, New York; Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina; and Galerie Lelong, New York. Participates in Three Rivers Festival, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Group exhibitions include Visions of America: Landscape as Metaphor in the Late Twentieth Century (Denver Art Museum, Colorado, and the Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio) and Beyond Nature: Wood into Art (Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida). Work enters permanent collection of Storm King Art center, Mountainville, New York. Granted Sculpture Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters. Returns to Italy.
Image 101995
Solo exhibitions at the University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, and University Gallery, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Work enters the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; the Orlando Museum of Art, Florida; and the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Participates in group exhibition, Beyond Gender, at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York. Travels to Ukraine and Poland.
1996
Solo exhibition at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Granted the Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation Award in Fine Art.
1997
Solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England (traveling exhibition organized by The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and by Yorkshire Sculpture Park, traveling to The Indianapolis Museum of Art). Solo exhibition at Galerie Lelong, New York. Receives award from Joan Mitchell Foundation. Travels to Turkey. Completes outdoor commission for Microsoft Corporation.
1998
Solo exhibition at the Madison Art Center, Wisconsin. Exhibition travels to the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; the Chicago Cultural Center, Illinois; and The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. Work enters permanent collection of Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, The City University of New York.