Documentary Review: 'Ursula Von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own'

As a younger man I hated the art world. I hated the pretension, the excess, the ludicrous amounts of money paid for creations that made no logical sense to my immature mind. I still have some issues with the money spent on art in a country where we still have people living hand to mouth. That said, I have come around somewhat on the art world in general. The market for art is about people with money, the art is about the artist.

That’s something I am sure most people have fully understood throughout their lives, but it’s a revelation that took many years for me to come around to. Not all that many years ago, I would not have been able to watch a documentary like Ursula Von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own with the perspective of appreciating the art. Instead, I would have focused too much on the commerce and being upset about the conspicuous consumption on display.

For those who don’t know, Ursula Von Rydingsvard is, she was born in Germany amid World War 2. She grew up in a displaced persons camp inside a ramshackle wooden shack with little heat and food and alongside 7 brothers and sisters. Something about that wooden shack made a deep impression on Ursula because years later she would find her artist milieu in wood. But first she would have to come to America.

The family came to the United States in the early 1950’s and found themselves welcomed in a mid-sized Connecticut town. The kindness that met them on their arrival unfortunately was opposed by what was happening inside Ursula’s home where her father was angry, Unkind and abusive. In Into Her Own, Von Rydingsvard talks about the abuse from her father in a way not many people do. She’s not forgiving per se, but she acknowledges that being abused motivated her.

This would not be the last trauma that would come to influence the life and career of Ursula Von Rydingsvard. In the mid-1970’s Ursula married a man who suffered from schizophrenia. The marriage resulted in her lovely daughter, Ursie, but the relationship was one trauma to another as Ursula gave up her life for his life until she had nothing left to give after 9 years. The story is told by her brother who is a lovely man who brings wonderful pathos to the documentary.

The talking heads in Ursula Von Rydingsvard: Into Her Own go a long way to smooth the way for my recently more nuanced opinion of the art world. Though there are a couple of people who are credited as ‘Art Patrons,’ for the most part there is a very particular sincerity to the appreciation of Ursula’s work and that sincerity is not expressed in sycophantic, unrelenting praise. Instead, we can sense the genuine feeling these people have for the tactile, time-consuming craftsmanship of Ursula’s art.

I mentioned that Ursula’s milieu is wood and Into Her Own does a remarkable job of showing Ursula at work and the remarkable result of that work. The sculptures are abstract and yet there is an exacting and determined outcome that only Ursula can see and that is fascinating. She’s so specific and yet her work is often bizarre and uncanny. Of late, Ursula has been making massively sized wooden sculptures that feature intricate cuts in cedar that rise to the sky almost like billowing smoke.

These sculptures are ridiculously in demand by the most prestigious Universities and large businesses around the world and the documentary shows Ursula as someone who appreciates the demand though she wouldn’t stop creating these sculptures even if there were no demand. So driven is Ursula, even in her late 70s, that she eagerly begins experimenting with metal work and bronzing during the making of this documentary.

The indefatigable artist is an inspiration. She may exist in a sphere that is highly pretentious but Ursula herself could not be more down to earth. That earthy quality and her tragic background render Ursula a fascinating subject and one I will forever be intrigued by. Her work lingers in my imagination because it has the meaning of her past and present scratched into every inch of cedar and bronze.

I can’t honestly call myself a connoisseur of great art but I am no longer childishly, jealously, dismissive of the art world. That someone can dedicate their entire life to creative vision and succeed and thrive is something we all should celebrate. And when the person thriving and succeeding is someone like Ursula Von Rydersvarg it’s even better.

Ursula Von Rydersvarg: Into Her Own is streaming now via your favorite streaming platforms. Buy the movie on physical media via Icarus Films by clicking here.