Study for Socrates Park, Long Island
Study for Socrates Park, Long Island, 1986, Drawing
Ursula von Rydingsvard (German, born 1942)
#2013.0001.0409
Ursula von Rydingsvard is a contemporary artist who primarily works with materials like milled cedar or bronze to create her towering, large-scale works. For von Rydingsvard, sculpture is highly personal. She often refers to her works in feminine terms, calling them “she” or “princess.” But she insists that they do not represent human proxies. “I don’t think of them as female figures,” she says. “I just think of them as ‘shes.’”
Born in Nazi-Germany, von Rydinsvard and her family survived severe conditions in eight different camps for displaced Poles, before immigrating to the United States in 1959 under the Marshall Plan. She received a BA and MA from University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida in 1965 and an MFA from Columbia University in New York City in 1975.
Study for Socrates Park, Long Island from 1986 represents a plan for a monumental installation at the well-known sculpture park. In 1987 von Rydingsvard was a participating artist in the group show Outside In at Socrates Park.
