Ursula Sax

Ursula Sax (born 1935 in Backnang/Württemberg) is a German visual artist and sculptor.

Life Ursula Sax was born in Backnang, a lively small town near Stuttgart. Still aged just 15, she enrolled at the State Academy of Fine Arts ("Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste") in Stuttgart where she studied sculpture between 1950 and 1955, She later implied during an interview that her most influential teacher, while she was still at Stuttgart, was Willi Baumeister: "He has been in my head ever since".

During 1985/86 and again in 1989 Sax accepted a guest professorship at the Hochschule der Künste (Arts Academy) in West Berlin. She then, in 1990, accepted a full professorship at the Hochschule für Bildende Künst (Visual Arts Academy) in Braunschweig, remaining there till 1993. From Braunschweig she moved on to Dresden where she was employed as a professor from 1993 till 2000 at the Academy of Fine Arts which, prior to her arrival, according to one commentator, was a bastion of Soviet-style "organically contemplated figuration in sculpture and the plastic arts".

Works

The work of Ursula Sax is multi-faceted, but can be sorted into a succession of (often overlapping) time periods, each lasting several years, and each characterised by a certain – often unconventional – material or selection of materials. Through the 1970s she concentrated on sculptures and interior constructions using preformed timber elements such as boards and beams, with a frequent preference for simple soft pine timber.

From the very start, Sax's artistic approach has been defined in part by an interest in sculptural aspects and related aspects of sculptural-spatial themes, along with express relationships to the relevant architectural spaces. Through the years she created a number of major sculptural pieces for public spaces. One of these is "Looping" beside the Berlin exhibition ground ("Berlin Messegelände"). Described by one commentator as "a 120 meter long yellow steel sculpture, winding round its own axis like a dancing dragon", its authorship is not as widely known as much as might be expected. This reflects an element of reticence on the part of its creator. Ursula Sax is much more interested in producing her art work than in sitting down with interviewers or supporting a personal public relations support network.

Awards (selection)

Sister The younger sister of Ursula Sax, Uta Sax, has achieved some notability as an actress, principally on TV.