© Ursula von Rydingsvard
Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Currently not on view
Braided Ladle,
2014
Ursula von Rydingsvard, born 1942, Deensen, Germany; active New York, NY
2015-6703
Braided Ladle is one of many sculptures reminiscent of utilitarian objects that von Rydingsvard divorces from an originally domestic—in this case, culinary—context. Hung vertically, the uncanny artifact becomes the human-size, symbolic trace of a familiar hand-tool. Like Untitled (Stacked Blankets), the cedar sculpture brings back memories of a home that is now lost or inaccessible. Von Rydingsvard
lived in eight different refugee camps for Poles in Germany over the course of five years following World War II, and her homelike artifacts—now transformed to a magical and mysterious scale—connote nostalgia as well as homelessness and displacement. Such objects can remind the viewer of the comforts of home while quietly suggesting a craving for something that never was.
lived in eight different refugee camps for Poles in Germany over the course of five years following World War II, and her homelike artifacts—now transformed to a magical and mysterious scale—connote nostalgia as well as homelessness and displacement. Such objects can remind the viewer of the comforts of home while quietly suggesting a craving for something that never was.
Information
Title
Braided Ladle
Dates
2014
Maker
Medium
Cedar
Dimensions
259.1 × 71.1 × 66 cm (102 × 28 × 26 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund
Object Number
2015-6703
Type
Materials
Purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2015.
