Ruth Duckworth, Reexamined
by Clare Austen-Smith
Early this March, University of Chicago students were able to take a trip to Miami—not for Spring Break, but to conduct groundbreaking archival research on the sculptor and ceramicist Ruth Duckworth.
Students visited artist Ruth Duckworth’s studio in Miami, Florida as part of the seminar “Ruth Duckworth and Ceramics in Chicago,” taught by the UChicago Curator of Public Art, Laura Steward. Duckworth’s on-campus mural “Earth, Water, Sky” is located in the entrance to the Henry Hinds Laboratory for Geophysical Sciences at 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, part of the University’s broad ranging and much celebrated public art collection.
Duckworth in front of “Earth, Water, Sky” in the 1970s.
The ceramic mural is 400 square feet, covering four walls and the ceiling. The viewer's eye traverses through the elements represented in the piece as the clay transforms into cracked earth, ocean waves, or a whistling wind. Despite the museum-worthy construction and fine art abstraction on par with other leading artists of the time that are present in Duckworth's piece, her legacy in contemporary art history is often reduced to a "British studio potter." The aim of the course, says Steward, is to “to critically situate Duckworth,” and “to consider her as a maker of modernist sculpture rather than decorative arts.”
In 1964, Duckworth arrived in Chicago from London, planning to stay for a year teaching at UChicago's Midway Studios. Instead, she ended up making Chicago her home, living in Chicago for nearly fifty years until her death in 2009—more than half her life. Steward's course, and the upcoming symposium "Ruth Duckworth "Life as a Unity" is aimed at redefining Duckworth as an innovative Chicago sculptor, deeply engaged in the natural world, her adopted city, and advanced artistic developments in the U.S. in the 1960s and ’70s. And UChicago Art History students are on the forefront.
Students examine Duckworth’s archives in the home of her long time agent. Photo by Natalie Jenkins.
“I was really drawn to the experience of real time archival art history research,” said second year Kina Takahashi. “Art history research and classes tend to be on Renaissance art or Medieval art—which is all so interesting—but they're all very much in the past.” The course aimed to critically situate Duckworth, an artist about whom comparatively little scholarship has been produced, with the help of the students enrolled in the class. As is common, her role in the modernist and abstract movement was minimized due to her gender. “It's really exciting and important to create conversation and scholarship around female artists, because they've been historically lacking in recognition and esteem,” said Natalie Jenkins, also a second year at the University, "and to consider her as a maker of modernist sculpture rather than decorative arts."
On the trip, students examined archival materials for traces of Duckworth’s world—her contacts, the books she read, the exhibitions she saw, her self-conception, and her inspirations. They were also able to gain context for why Duckworth's career was overlooked at the time, and in scholarship until now. "The art world in general gets very romanticized and misinterpreted. it's important that we are learning about Ruth Duckworth, because she was overlooked just by the fact that she was a woman making art, and because of that, the market was tilted against that at the time."
Students in Miami. Photo by Natalie Jenkins.
Like many other artists whose works can be seen on campus, Duckworth has an extensive archive and played a large role within the arts movement of her time. However, scholarship on Duckworth, her work, and her impact in the art world is largely untouched. With the help of the UChicago students in Steward's course, her legacy is being reexamined.
Building on the research conducted by Steward and in the class, scholars and students are currently preparing to come together on June 2, 2022 in a symposium further examining Duckworth’s important contributions. “This event will highlight the significance of Ruth Duckworth’s incredible—and at times undervalued—accomplishments in art history. We hope to bring forward new perspectives on her work, and her relationship to Chicago, as a longtime resident of Hyde Park,” said Steward.
RSVP for the symposium "Ruth Duckworth: Life as a Unity" here. It will occur on June 2, 2022 from 9:30am - 5pm, beginning at the Smart Museum of Art.
In the Fall of 2023, the Smart Museum of Art will also feature an exhibition on Duckworth. Learn more here.
Steward’s research is supported by the Terra Foundation and student travel supported by College Curricular Innovation Grant.