Ursula von Rydingsvard
Ursula von Rydingsvard (née Karoliszyn; born 1942) is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber.
Also recorded as Ursula Von Rydingsvärd · Ursula Von Rydingsvard
Ursula von Rydingsvard

Ursula von Rydingsvard · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Ursula von Rydingsvard
- Birth Name
- Ursula Karoliszyn
- Born
- 1942
- Birthplace
- Deensen, Free State of Brunswick, German Reich
- Field
- Sculpture
- Training
- Columbia University
- Elected
- Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Spouse
- Paul Greengard
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- artist · sculptor
- Fields
- art of sculpture
- Honours
- Rome Prize · Guggenheim Fellowship · Golden Medal for Merit to Culture
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Documentary summary
Ursula von Rydingsvard (née Karoliszyn; born 1942) is a sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She is best known for creating large-scale works influenced by nature, primarily using cedar and other forms of timber.
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gnd · 5503274-6 · wikidata · Q7901287 · wikipedia · Ursula von Rydingsvard
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is art of sculpture. Employment is recorded with Yale University. Work by Ursula von Rydingsvard is recorded in the collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Ulrich Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art. Distinctions recorded are Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship and Golden Medal for Merit to Culture.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ursula von Rydingsvard • Birth Name — Ursula Karoliszyn • Born — 1942 • Birthplace — Deensen, Free State of Brunswick, German Reich • Field — Sculpture • Training — Columbia University • Elected — Member, American Academy of Arts and Letters • Website — ursulavonrydingsvard.net • Spouse — Paul Greengard
Early life and education
Early life and education
Von Rydingsvard was born in Deensen, Germany in 1942 to a Polish mother and Ukrainian father. As a young child, the artist and her six siblings experienced the German occupation of Poland and the trauma of World War II, followed by five years in eight different German refugee camps for displaced Poles. In 1959, through the U.S. Marshall Plan and with the assistance of Catholic agencies, her family of peasant farmers boarded a ship to the United States where they eventually settled in Plainville, Connecticut. She received a BA and MA from University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida in 1965 and an MFA from Columbia University in New York City in 1975. In the late 1970s, she was part of NYC's Cultural Council Foundation Artists' Project, which was funded under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA).
Achievements
Achievements
• Illustration — Damski Czepek by Ursula von Rydingsvard in Madison Square Park Major permanent commissions of her work are on view at the Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA; Storm King Art Center, New York; the Bloomberg Building, New York; the Queens Family Courthouse, New York; the Nelson-Atkins, Kansas City, and the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Mad. Sq. Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard was the outdoor solo exhibition presented at Madison Square Park in 2006. In 2008, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters along with being featured in Art:21 Art in the Twenty-First Century on PBS. A monograph on her work titled The Sculpture of Ursula von Rydingsvard was published by Hudson Hills Press in 1996 and in 2011 Prestel published Ursula von Rydingsvard: Working. In 2014-2015 Ursula von Rydingsvard had her first British show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (West Yorkshire, UK), her most extensive exhibition to date. The exhibition was accompanied by the Ursula von Rydingsvard 2014 Catalogue, a major publication featuring text by Molly Donovan, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Notable exhibitions
Notable exhibitions
• 2021 Ursula von Rydingsvard: Nothing But Art, National Museum, Kraków and simultaneously at the Center of Polish Sculpture, Orońsko and Łazienki Park, Warsaw, Poland • 2019 Ursula von Rydingsvard: The Contour of Feeling, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. • 2018 Now, She, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • 2018 The Contour of Feeling, The Fabric Workshop & Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • 2015 Ursula von Rydingsvard, la Biennale di Venezia, Giardino della Marinaressa, Venice, Italy • 2014 Ursula von Rydingsvard, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, England • 2011-12 Ursula von Rydingsvard: Sculpture 1991-2009, SculptureCenter, Queens, New York; traveled to deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts; Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio; and to Frost Art Museum, Miami, Florida • 2006 Mad. Sq. Art: Ursula von Rydingsvard, Mad Sq Art at Madison Square Park, New York, NY • 1992-4 Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY (Ten-year retrospective)
In popular culture
In popular culture
• Annie Liontas's "Bent Lace" in BOMB Magazine • Daniel Traub's feature-length documentary of the artist Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own, 2019
Identity
Identity
Ursula von Rydingsvard is recorded with the occupation sculptor. Established in Library of Congress under n88620570. Established in RKDartists under 250040. Established in FAST under 225899. Recorded as having received Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship and Golden Medal for Merit to Culture.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1942
Ursula von Rydingsvard was born on 1 January 1942.
Museum collections
Museum collections
• Illustration — Ursula von Rydingsvard at the National Museum of Women in the Arts • Illustration — Tak (2015), National Museum of Women in the Arts • Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York • Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT • Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY • Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw, Poland • Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH • The Contemporary Austin, Austin, TX • Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR • De Cordova Sculpture Park + Museum, Lincoln, MA • Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI • Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI • High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA • Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, NH • Madison Art Center, Madison, WI • Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY • Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts • Museum of Modern Art New York, NY • National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. • National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. • Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO • North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC • Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL • San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA • Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky • Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY • Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA • University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI • University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX • Ulrich Museum, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS • Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN • Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY • Williams College, Williamstown, MA • Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Ursula von Rydingsvard received Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship and Golden Medal for Merit to Culture.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 5503274-6, Exhibition Ursula von Rydingsvard (1997-2000 : Wakefield u.a.).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
reference work
- “Ursula von Rydingsvard”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
institutional register
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7901287: Ursula von Rydingsvard
General reference · Wikimedia Foundation
Awards and grants
• Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis, Poland, 2021 • Artist Award for Distinguished Body of Work, CAA New York City, NY, 2019 • Visionary Woman Honors Award, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA, 2017 • Lifetime Achievement Award, International Sculpture Center, Hamilton, NJ, 2014 • Honoree, Storm King Art Center Annual Gala, New York, NY, 2012 • Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, 2011 • Best Show in a Non-Profit Gallery or Space, American Section of the International Association of Art Critics, 2011 • Rappaport Prize, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA, 2008 • Order of the Cross, Polish Consulate, New York, 2008 • Mary Miss Resident in Visual Arts, American Academy in Rome, Italy, 2007 • 2nd prize, Best Show in a Commercial Gallery, American Section of the International Association of Art Critics, 2000 • Academy Award in Art, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY, 1994 • Best Small Museum Exhibition, American Section of the International Association of Art Critics, 1992 • Honorary Doctorate, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, 1991 • Individual Artists Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C., 1986 • Athena Foundation Grant, Long Island City, NY, 1983 • Guggenheim Fellowship, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, New York, NY, 1983 • Individual Artists Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C., 1979 • Individual Artists Grant, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C., 1978 • Fulbright-Hayes Travel Grant, Washington, D.C., 1975
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Ursula von Rydingsvard uhonorowana Złotym Medalem Gloria Artis. Ministerstwo Kultury, Dziedzictwa Narodowego i Sportu - Portal Gov.pl. 2021-09-02.
- 2.Wystawa "Tylko sztuka" Ursuli von Rydignsvard w Centrum Rzeźby w Orońsku - Ministerstwo Kultury, Dziedzictwa Narodowego i Sportu - Portal Gov.pl. Ministerstwo Kultury, Dziedzictwa Narodowego i Sportu.
- 3.Michel, Karen. When Sculpting Cedar, This Artist Is Tireless And Unsentimental. NPR.org. April 28, 2013.
- 4.Phillips, Patricia. Ursula von Rydingsvard, Working. Prestel Publishing. 27–31. 2011.
- 5.Ursula von Rydingsvard: May 15, 2006 – February 28, 2007. Madison Square Park Conservancy.
- 6.Rydingsvard von, Ursula. Damski Czepek, 2006. artnet.com.
- 7.Ursula von Rydingsvard: Damski Czepek. Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
- 8.URSULA VON RYDINGSVÄRD, Nothing but Art - National Museum in Krakow.
- 9.Association, College Art. Announcing the 2019 Awards for Distinction Recipients. CAA News College Art Association. 2019-01-17.
- 10.Visionary Woman Honors Award.
- 11.Bent Lace.
- 12.Into Her Own. itinerantpictures.com.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 5503274-6, Exhibition Ursula von Rydingsvard (1997-2000 : Wakefield u.a.).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witnessinstitutional register
Wikidata, structured authority record Q7901287: Ursula von RydingsvardWikimedia Foundation
General reference
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the headings Ursula Von Rydingsvärd and Ursula Von Rydingsvard. Her recorded language was English. She married Paul Greengard. Rydingsvard worked in art of sculpture. She was employed by Yale University. She belonged to American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Identity and origins
Career and activity
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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