Sophie Ryder

Hugging, Maquette (B/08/05)

2008

British artist Sophie Ryder’s imaginative anthropomorphic sculptures have been celebrated for their profundity and exploration of human relationships through iconography and metaphor. Works like Minotaur and Lady Hare examine the interplay between male and female sexuality and reflect the influence of Spanish artist Francisco Goya, English artist Henry Moore and Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

As a child, Ryder and her sketchpad were inseparable; she drew furiously, especially during long stretches in the hospital while she recovered from childhood leukemia. She later attended the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where she studied Combined Arts from 1981 to 1984. 

Ryder’s artistic debut was at the Zurich Art Fair in 1986. She has gone on to exhibit work in solo and group shows around the world. Since 2005, she has regularly exhibited in the Vancouver Biennale in Canada. In 1992, she earned the Discerning Eye award at the Mall Galleries for best sculpture in show. In 2017, she had solo shows at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach, Florida; St James’s Square in London, Pilane sculpture park in Sweden and Hignell Gallery in London. 

The numerous public and corporate collections that hold her work include the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, England; the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in West Yorkshire, England; the United Kingdom’s National Trust and the Robert and Mary Montgomery Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Sophie Ryder’s sculptures, prints and multiples.