Richard Lippold

Who was Richard Lippold?

Richard Lippold was an American sculptor, known for his geometric constructions using wire as a medium.

He studied at the University of Chicago, and graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in industrial design in 1937. Lippold worked as an industrial designer from 1937 to 1941. After he became a sculptor, Lippold taught at several universities, including Hunter College at the City University of New York, from 1952 to 1967.

The Lippold Foundation is laboriously maintaining his work. Howard Newman:

Lippold was an engineering genius, but we’ve been dealing with a piece that had reached the threshold of catastrophe,...People’s mouths fall open when they see it going back up, like they’re watching a spider spin a web of blazing gold,...“The more that goes up, the more exquisite it gets.

The 14th and 15th of John Cage's famous Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano are subtitled Gemini - after the work of Richard Lippold.