Entertainment · Books & Arts · 1 hr ago
Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard Dies at 84
Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard died in New York at 84 after living with Alzheimer’s disease.
She spent more than five decades making large-scale works from cedar and other materials.
Her towering cedar sculptures were built from four-by-four beams, which she cut and shaped into forms that could resemble waves, caves or living things.
She began working with cedar in the mid-1970s, when Minimalism was a leading style in New York art.
Her organic forms offered a more human touch than the severe metal works associated with that movement.
Von Rydingsvard was born in Germany to Polish and Ukrainian parents, and her family spent time in Nazi slave-labor and postwar refugee camps before moving to the United States in 1950.
Her work drew on a distinctive mix of materials and influences, though she said her art was only implicitly connected to her life.
Sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard died in New York on October 27, 2026, at the age of 84.
Her studio manager attributed her death to Alzheimer’s disease, citing the New York Times.
She was known for monumental sculptures made from cedar beams and also worked with materials including bronze, textiles and animal intestines.
Born in Germany to a Polish mother and Ukrainian father, she drew inspiration in part from her childhood in refugee camps after World War II.
- Who
- Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculptor.
- What
- She died at 84. Her studio manager attributed her death to Alzheimer’s disease.
- When
- October 27, 2026.
- Where
- New York. Hyperallergic says she died at her Manhattan home.
- Why
- Her studio manager attributed her death to Alzheimer’s disease, according to the New York Times.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Von Rydingsvard was born in Deensen, Germany.
After the war ended, her family navigated Nazi slave-labor and postwar refugee camps.
Her family took a military ship to the United States.
Von Rydingsvard began working with cedar.
Von Rydingsvard died in New York at 84.
- Age
- 84
- Birthplace
- Deensen, Germany
- Birth year
- 1942
- Material
- Cedar beams, often 4×4
- Family’s move to the United States
- 1950
4 sources
What people are saying
She was like the sun. She was this force that pulled people in and kept them orbiting around her,
There was no sexiness, and there wasn’t even any humanity,
The heat made the sheet organic in a beautiful, delicate way,