(Deensen, Germany, 1942 - )
2014
Cedar and graphite
104 x 58 x 52 in. (264.2 x 147.3 x 132.1 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Museum Acquisition Fund
2016.21
Ursula von Rydingsvard is renowned for her monumental sculptures made from western red cedar. As is characteristic of much of her work, the artist brushed the cedar with powdered graphite to provide definition and add emotional resonance. The vessel is one of many domestic forms related to nourishment or protection—containers, shovels, spoons or garments—that recur in the artist’s oeuvre. As a solid form constructed from 2 x 4 inch—rather than 4 x 4 inch—milled cedar beams, rzeski represents a departure for von Rydingsvard. The smaller components allowed the artist to cut directly into the middle of the sculpture to create diagonals and activate the surface. One of von Rydingsvard’s few titles intended to convey meaning, rzeski references how the wind bends branches, the feeling of a breeze.