People

Ursula von Rydingsvard, Sculptor of Sublime Wooden Totems, Dies at 84

'Her sculptures stand as sentinels to inspire new generations,' said her dealer.

Ursula Von Rydingsvard at the Venice Biennale, 2015. Photo: Venturelli / Getty Images for Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Richard Whiddington Oct 27, 2026

ShareShare This Article

Ursula von Rydingsvard , the American sculptor whose towering cedar beam pieces offered a looser, naturalistic rejoinder to Minimalism, died at her home in New York at the age of 84.

Galerie Lelong , which has represented von Rydingsvard for the past three decades, announced her death.

“Despite enormous obstacles, Ursula had an inimitable drive to create and to wrest nearly unimaginable images into a monumental scale,” Mary Sabbatino , vice president at the gallery, said in a statement. “Her sculptures stand as sentinels to inspire new generations—especially women sculptors—to dream new possibilities.”

Ursula von Rydingsvard alongside her work Nine Cones in the 1970s.…