Richard Lippold

American sculptor (1915–2002); known for large-scale geometric wire constructions.

Richard Lippold was an American sculptor who achieved renown for his monumental constructions of wire, sheet metal, and other industrial materials suspended in space to create shimmering, geometric forms. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he initially studied industrial design at the University of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago before turning to sculpture in the late 1930s. His mature work consisted of intricate constructions of gold, silver, copper, brass, and stainless steel wire, tensioned and suspended to dematerialize solid form into radiant linear networks.

Lippold's major commissions include Variation Number 7: Full Moon (1949–50, Museum of Modern Art), the golden Flight for the Pan Am Building lobby in New York (1963), and Orpheus and Apollo for Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall (1962). His sculptures explored the relationship between structure and illusion, using thin wires and reflective surfaces to create forms that appeared to dissolve into light and space. He taught at Hunter College in New York for many years and was an articulate spokesman for the idea that sculpture could embody mathematical and structural principles while transcending them through perceptual experience.

Relationship to Fuller

Relationship: co-contributor. Lippold contributed "Illusion as structure" to Structure in Art and in Science (1965), the Gyorgy Kepes-edited anthology in which R. Buckminster Fuller contributed "Conceptuality of Fundamental Structures." Lippold's essay examined how perceptual illusion and physical structure interact in art, offering a sculptor's perspective on the interplay between material reality and visual experience that complemented the anthology's cross-disciplinary investigation of structural principles.

See Also

• Gyorgy Kepes — editor of the anthology

Sources

• Structure in Art and in Science (source reference) — Zotero record for the anthology