Contents
Richard Serra
The sculptor whose enormous steel forms change how viewers move through space.
Tilted Arc · Torqued Ellipses
- Born
- 2 November 1938
- Birthplace
- United States
- Died
- 26 March 2024
More people
Richard Serra
Richard Serra worked with weight, balance and the physical presence of industrial materials. His sculptures are experienced by walking around and sometimes inside them.
Early life
San Francisco
Grew up near the city’s shipbuilding and industrial world.
Education
Studied literature in California before art at Yale.
Career
- 1964
European study
Travelled in Europe after completing his MFA.
- 1966
New York
Began experiments with rubber, lead and other materials.
- 1970s
Large-scale sculpture
Developed site-specific steel works.
- 1990s
Curved steel
Developed the Torqued Ellipses, bending enormous steel plates into walk-through forms.
Selected work
Tilted Arc
A public sculpture later removed after controversy.
Torqued Ellipses
Curving steel walls create shifting interior spaces.
The Matter of Time
A major installation at Guggenheim Bilbao.
Beyond work
Drawing
Maintained a substantial practice in large, densely worked drawings.
Public debate
The removal of Tilted Arc became a landmark dispute about public art.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Career and work — guggenheim-bilbao.eus ↗Photo: See source. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
