Bowl with Pleats
Ursula von Rydingsvard, American (born Germany), born 1942
1999
Cedar toned with graphite
Overall: 74 × 64 × 74 in. (188 × 162.6 × 188 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the William S. Rubin Fund, the Julia L. Whittier Fund, the Claire and Richard P. Morse 1953 Fund, the Hood Museum of Art Acquisitions Fund and the Anonymous Fund #144
© Ursula von Rydingsvard, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.
S.999.14
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Sculpture
On view
Label
Meticulously assembled from cedar beams, this monumental work draws us close. About her choice of material, Ursula von Rydingsvard states, “Cedar is a very difficult wood to carve. Using a wood that does not have much of a grain enables me to use it and abuse it in ways that have a huge range of possibilities.” With a circular saw, she coaxes delicate surfaces that are palpably expressive and charged with emotional force. Graphite animates the surface further, inviting us to imagine rubbing it in. While the artist does not explicitly reference her biography, the tolerance for discomfort and the endurance required to make this work speak to the severe conditions of her childhood growing up in German refugee camps in World War II.
From the 2024 exhibition Immersive Worlds: Real and Imagined, curated by Amelia Kahl, Barbara C. & Harvey P. Hood 1918 Senior Curator of Academic Programming and Neely McNulty, Hood Foundation Curator of Education
Exhibition History
Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 26,2009-March 15, 2010.
Publication History
Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009, p.124, no.99.
Provenance
Galerie Lelong, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 1999.
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