Ursula von Rydingsvard

Ursula von Rydingsvard was born in Deensen, Germany in 1942, to a Polish mother and a Ukrainian father. Her parents were drafted into forced labour during World War II. After the war, she spent several years in refugee camps before immigrating with her family to Connecticut, USA, at the end of 1950. She received a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, and an M.F.A. from Columbia University in 1975. She has lived and worked in New York City for over 40 years.

Ursula’s work has been shown publicly in Sweden, notably when her first large-scale polyurethane piece Damski Czepek was installed in Pilane, on the island of Tjörn. It travelled here after the major 2006 installation at Madison Square Park in New York (USA), and was later also shown at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (U.K).

Von Rydingsvard’s work is represented in the permanent collections of over 30 museums 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.

Her extensive exhibition history includes The Contour of Feeling, The Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia, PA (2018), Ursula von Rydingsvard, la Biennale di Venezia, Giardino della Marinaressa, Venice, Italy (2015), Ursula von Rydingsvard, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, England (2014).