A collection of scholarly and artistic works by the late American sculptor and South Bend native George Rickey will be permanently placed in the University of Notre Dame’s Archives and Snite Museum of Art, according to a new agreement between the George Rickey Foundation and the University.
The artworks consist of 20 sculptures – one outdoor and 19 indoor – which will be installed within the museum’s sculpture courtyard and entrance atrium next summer. The Snite also will publish a catalog of its entire George Rickey collection and organize events pertaining to the artist’s life and work.
The archival material includes Rickey’s personal and business correspondences, along with published and unpublished works. The collection features engineering drawings and specifications, photographs, films and a computer database of the artist’s sculptures, as well as published essays on various topics. The University Archives will organize and make the material available for study and research by international scholars and the Rickey Foundation will utilize the information to publish a complete catalog of the artist’s works.
The son of an engineer and the grandson of a clock maker, Rickey was born in 1907 and left South Bend six years later when his family moved to Scotland. Educated at Trinity College in Glenalmond, Scotland, and at Balliol College and the Ruskin School of Drawing at Oxford, he was a painter and an art history teacher at the Groton School before coming to sculpture late in his career. He died in 2002.
A pioneer in the field of kinetic art, Rickey’s sculptures feature stainless steel forms activated and balanced by meticulously engineered counterweights and bearings as well as by air currents and gravitational pull. His works have been included in many private and corporate collections throughout the world, in such public spaces as Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport, and in most major art museums.
The Snite Museum is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays and holidays. Admission is free.
More information on the Snite Museum and its exhibits is available on the Web at www.nd.edu/~sniteart .
Contact: Chuck Loving, director and curator, George Rickey Sculpture Archive, 574-631-5466, cloving@nd.edu
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on September 22, 2006.