email Join our email list! divider Register Login cartCart
Icarus Film
Films from independent
producers worldwide.
32 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201divider(718) 488 8900
Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own

A film by Daniel Traub

 Text Size  Increase Font Size   Decrease Font Size   divider Printable VersionPrintable Version

“I have been able to manipulate cedar in ways that are almost outrageous.” – Ursula von Rydingsvard

The sculptures are massive, yet strangely intimate. Some feel imbued with an almost primal energy: a series of installations reminiscent of wings in New York’s Battery Park, a monumental yet inviting piece outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, the stunning “Scientia” which evokes the power of nature and the firing of brain synapses.

URSULA VON RYDINGSVARD: INTO HER OWN is an artistic biography of one of the few women in the world working in monumental sculpture. Von Rydingsvard’s work has been featured in the Venice Biennale and is held in the collections of some of the world’s great museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. But she may be best-known for work in public spaces – imposing pieces painstakingly crafted (usually from cedar), with complex surfaces.

In this documentary, we go behind the scenes with von Rydingsvard, as she and her collaborators – cutters, metalsmiths, and others – produce new work, including challenging commissions in copper and bronze. But the film also delves into the artist’s personal life, and how it has shaped her work. Born in Poland during the Second World War, she was partly raised in a displaced persons camp and came to the US as a refugee with her nine-person family. Her younger brother shares memories of being raised by their violent, domineering father – a man whose influence von Rydingsvard continues to feel. Brought up in a blue-collar environment, she became a teacher and then, as a single mother, moved to New York in the 1970s to take up her artistic practice full-time, while making ends meet by delivering meals. There was a flowering of high-profile female artists working in the city at the time – from Yoko Ono to Cindy Sherman – and von Rydingsvard finally felt at home.

In conversations with curators, patrons, family, and fellow artists, we come to know von Rydingsvard as a driven but compassionate sculptor with a deep commitment to her art and the world around her. Speaking with her husband, the late Nobel Prize-winning brain researcher Paul Greengard, von Rydingsvard talks about how both art and science pay homage to nature. Over images of organic-looking work installed outdoors, she says, “I read a lot of things from nature. Whether it’s from animals, whether it’s from plants, what the clouds do, what the skies do, she’s my major teacher.”

"Outstanding." –San Francisco Chronicle

"Extraordinary! If you loved the Andy Goldsworthy documentary 'Rivers and Tides,' this one is a must."
–Mercury News

"A welcome cinematic account of her work." –The New York Times

"A revelation." –Musée Magazine

"Eloquent; thoughtful and visually arresting." –The Washington Post

"Visceral, heroic; the story of one of our greatest contemporary sculptors."
–Black Book

"What a knockout it is to encounter 'Ursula von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own.'" –TrustMovies

"A movie you want to reach out and touch." –Los Angeles Times

Berkshire International Film Festival 2020
Architecture Design Art Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival
Sante Fe Film Festival

57 minutes / Color
Closed Captioned
Release: 2020
Copyright: 2019

For individual consumers (home video)

This DVD is sold for private, home use only.

This title is also available online from:

For colleges, universities, government agencies, hospitals and corporations

This DVD is sold with a license for institutional use and Public Performance rights.

Subject areas:
Art, World War II, Family Relations

Watch the trailer:

Related Titles:
Home | New | Titles | Subjects | Ordering   
About | Best Sellers | Filmmakers | Screenings   
address
  Follow Us! On...
Facebook Follow Icarus Films on Twitter Instagram Vimeo YouTube
Copyright (c) 2024, Icarus Films
Last Updated January 25, 2024 [Build 3.0.a060-d7]
Privacy Policy