Ursula Meyer
1960 - 2002
Curator. Ursula Meyer Conservancy, NY, NY. May - December, 2005
In 2005, I spent a year working closely with the Ursula Meyer Conservancy conducting research, writing, and documenting the collection. For the Conservancy’s inaugural exhibition, I selected sixty works by Ursula Meyer (1915–2003) spanning a variety of media from 1960 to 2002. The exhibition presents four decades of Meyer’s practice through a combination of chronological and thematic strategies, highlighting the evolution of her work from early abstraction to later figuration in metal and clay. This presentation situates Meyer not only as a sculptor of remarkable skill and vision, but also as a writer whose contributions to art criticism, including her book on Conceptual Art, continue to influence contemporary art education.
Meyer’s work emerged at a time when commercial galleries overwhelmingly favored male artists, leaving many women underrepresented in collections, exhibitions, and historical narratives. By foregrounding her sculptures and drawings, the exhibition seeks to reclaim Meyer’s place in art history and underscore the significance of her practice as both a maker and thinker. Following her death, her work was honored with a retrospective, Euclidean Geometries: 1960s Sculpture and Drawings, at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. This project reflects a broader commitment to recognizing overlooked contributions and situates Meyer as a vital figure whose creativity, rigor, and intellectual engagement continue to resonate today.
About Ursula Meyer
Ursula Meyer (1915–2003) was a German-born American artist and writer whose work in sculpture and critical writing positioned her as a key figure in the development of conceptual and minimalist art in the United States. Born in Hanover, Meyer studied ceramics in Italy before immigrating to the U.S., where she earned degrees from The New School and Columbia University. Her early craft and design experience evolved into a rigorous sculptural practice rooted in geometry, structure, and spatial logic. In parallel, she cultivated a critical writing practice that shaped the discourse of the 1960s and ’70s, culminating in her influential book Conceptual Art (1972), one of the first comprehensive surveys of the movement.
As an artist, Meyer created modular sculptures in metal, wood, and ceramic, exploring repetition, symmetry, and the tension between mass and void. Her minimalist works combined intellectual rigor with material precision, reflecting interests in mathematics, architecture, and order. She exhibited widely, including solo shows at A.M. Sachs Gallery, Amel Gallery, Hunter College, and Lehman College, and participated in group exhibitions such as Cool Art of 1967 and Schemata 7. A respected educator, she taught sculpture at Hunter and Lehman College, mentoring generations of students. Renewed posthumous attention underscores her enduring legacy in both conceptual and minimalist art, as well as in critical discourse.