Untitled (Seven Mountains) by Ursula von Rydingsvard (Photo by Ben Aqua)
In the introduction to David Levi Strauss‘ book From Head to Hand: Art and the Manual, he points out that “in an increasingly mediated world, one of the most radical things artists can do is to use their hands.” He goes on to quote Leo Steinberg: “The eye is a part of the mind.”
This point of view is right in line with my operative ethos for art as defined by Robert Smith in her review a few years back of what is missing in too many of the museum shows she was seeing: Art that seems made by one person out of intense personal necessity, often by hand. So the reference in Strauss’ title to the head and the hand is of elemental importance to my view of art making.
This small book has been on my nightstand for nearly a year. The writing has a compact denseness that I love. You only need to read a line or two at the end of the day to be dropped into that meditative state before sleeping. Strauss offers his wisdom and insights on a number of artists and writers who are among my personal favorites: Joseph Beuys, Martin Puryear, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Nancy Spero, Cecilia Vicuña. I’ll share a few passages from the book over the next few posts.
Here is a sampling from his chapter on Ursula von Rydingsvard, “Sculpture and Sanctuary”:
Rydingsvard’s relation to the symbolic is effected by her relation to nature. She has often spoken in interviews of her abhorrence of competing with or imitating nature. She eschews mimesis in favor of reciprocity, aiming to get the objects she makes “to echo things that nature might say but doesn’t.” Her organicism is always a mediated organicism, arising from the religious imagination as defined by W. S. Piero: “The religious imagination is a respondent, form-making act of consciousness, back toward and into that which it believes has shaped it—the force of otherness. It replies to the givenness of existence by reshaping the forms of nature into the forms of work.”
My review of Rydingsvard’s show at the de Cordova Museum last year inter alia can be read here.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, from her recent retrospective at the de Cordova Museum
I enjoyed reading that pithy quote, Deborah. I’m going to put the book on my wish list. Thanks for pointing it out to me. I can see that there is a lot of material there for pondering.
I came across von Rydingsvard’s work about five years ago and was awed. I’ve listened to a number of interviews with her. Love her work!
Like Nancy, I will have to put this book on my list.
Knowing both of your tastes, I think this would be a compelling addition to your libraries. He is thoughtful and an excellent writer. Thanks for stopping by, I value your thoughts.
Me, I’ve just stumbled upon you via 1 bookshelf, and find the Ursula von Rydingsvard work sings deep tones to the heart. The religious imagination – what a beautiful concept – birth to the otherness of each individual in process.