Famous modernist sculptor, Ruth Duckworth, died Oct. 18 as a result of a minor illness that had afflicted her for several weeks. Specializing in ceramics, many of Duckworth’s pieces have been featured in public areas such as the Art Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art and here at NEIU.
Born Ruth Windmüller on Apr. 10, 1919 in Hamburg, Germany, Duckworth was the fifth child of a Jewish father and a Lithuanian mother. In 1936, she moved to England and attended the Liverpool School of Art.
Duckworth discovered her passion for ceramics while visiting an art exhibit from India. She then enrolled in the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London in 1956. Starting with traditional ceramic work such as pots, Duckworth then began making more abstract pieces that broke the art’s conventions which eventually resulted in her attaining recognition from the art community. In 1964 she moved to the United States and took a position teaching ceramics at the University of Chicago. That same year, she ended her marriage to Aidron Duckworth, a fellow artist whom she married in 1949.
Duckworth taught at the University of Chicago until her retirement in 1977. During her career there she painted several mural series including her most famous piece, “Clouds Over Lake Michigan” which can be found in the Chicago Board of Options Exchange Building on 141 W. Jackson Boulevard. Following her retirement, she moved into a renovated pickle factory in the Lakeview neighborhood where she had two large kilns that she used specifically for her art. It was also during this time that she created several large bronze sculptures for various colleges including NEIU.
Duckworth’s sculpture can be found at the NEIU campus, between the B Building and the Science Building and is one of her many bronze pieces to be found on college campuses. The piece is called “Serenity” and is one of her few pieces to have been named because she wanted others “to have their own fantasy or ideas about it and not [her own].”
Ruth Duckworth is survived by her sister, Ilse Windmüller.