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Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard died at 84 in her Manhattan home on October 27, according to Hyperallergic. Her studio manager attributed her death to Alzheimer’s disease, as reported by The New York Times. Across a career spanning more than five decades, von Rydingsvard became known for large-scale works, especially sculptures carved from cedar.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, the sculptor known for monumental works carved from cedar, died at 84 in her Manhattan home on October 27, Hyperallergic reported. Her studio manager, Courtney Childress, attributed the death to Alzheimer’s disease, according to The New York Times. Von Rydingsvard’s work drew on forms from the natural world and domestic life, as well as memories of displacement during and after World War II.
During a career of more than five decades, von Rydingsvard built large-scale sculptures by cutting and assembling cedar beams. Her works ranged from clusters of cone-like forms to a tornado-shaped sculpture standing 17 feet tall and made from 15,000 pounds of wood, according to Hyperallergic. She also worked with bronze, textiles and animal intestines.
Von Rydingsvard was born in 1942 in Deensen, Germany, to a Polish mother and Ukrainian father. She and her family spent years in Nazi slave-labor and postwar refugee camps before traveling to the United States in 1950. In an interview with Art21, she described how observations of camp barracks and wooden Polish homes informed her use of cedar, while other memories—including the feel of linen and warmth of sunlight—also fed her artistic imagination.
She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Miami in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts in studio art from Columbia University in 1975. Her honors included a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Joan Mitchell Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work entered the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Cedar Forms Built a Distinct Legacy
Von Rydingsvard’s death marks the loss of an artist whose work brought a tactile, materially demanding approach to large-scale sculpture. Carving and joining heavy cedar beams gave her pieces a visible relationship to labor and to the wood itself, while their monumental size placed them in dialogue with the spaces where they were shown. Her practice also crossed materials, from wood to bronze and textiles.
Her background helps explain some of the references in the work, but von Rydingsvard resisted having her art read only as autobiography, according to the account of her Art21 interview. That distinction matters: her sculptures drew on personal memories without being reducible to them. Their presence in major museum collections and exhibitions in the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom reflects the reach of a career that moved beyond a single medium or national setting.
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From Displacement to Cedar Sculpture
Von Rydingsvard’s childhood was shaped by wartime upheaval. After the war ended in 1945, her family of nine passed through eight Nazi slave-labor and postwar refugee camps before leaving for the United States aboard a military ship in 1950, she told Art21. The report describes her memories of wooden barracks and pre-industrial Polish houses as influences on her choice of cedar.
Her career developed amid major shifts in postwar art. Hyperallergic says her large, expressive forms departed from the aloof quality associated with 1970s minimalism, translating visual cues from anatomy, the environment and household vessels into abstract sculpture. She later had solo exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Museum in Krakow and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
“She moved through the studio like her hair was on fire, and could never slow down.”
— Courtney Childress, speaking to Hyperallergic
Details About Her Final Days
The report identifies October 27 as the date von Rydingsvard died and says she was at home in Manhattan. Childress attributed the cause to Alzheimer’s disease, according to The New York Times. The supplied reporting does not provide further details about her illness, the circumstances of her death, or memorial arrangements.
Memorial Plans and Work Remain
No funeral, memorial or other public arrangements are specified in the available report. Her sculptures remain represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and her exhibition history includes institutions in the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom. Further information about tributes or memorial plans was not provided.
Key Questions
How old was Ursula von Rydingsvard when she died?
She was 84, according to Hyperallergic’s report.
When and where did she die?
She died on October 27 in her Manhattan home, according to the report.
What was Ursula von Rydingsvard known for?
She was known for large-scale abstract sculptures, particularly works made by carving and assembling cedar beams. She also used materials including bronze and textiles.
What was reported as the cause of death?
Her studio manager attributed her death to Alzheimer’s disease, according to The New York Times. The report does not offer additional medical details.
Where can her work be seen in museum collections?
Her work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, according to Hyperallergic.
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