Northeastern Illinois University [ Serenity (2005) - by Ruth Duckworth]

Serenity - by Ruth Duckworth

2005

Northeastern Illinois University

Commissioned by the Illinois CDB Art in Architecture program.

The sculpture was installed when the artist was 96 years old. "Duckworth's sculptures have smooth and elongated silhouettes with slight details to insinuate the face and limbs."

Ruth Duckworth (1919-2009)

She was born in Hamburg, Germany. She fled her German homeland to escape Nazi oppressions. She studied art in England. She came to Chicago in 1964 to teach at the University of Chicago and remained in the city after retiring from the university in 1977.

Duckworth died in Chicago at the age of 90 on October 19, 2009. She spent 45 years of her life in Chicago.  In two consecutive years Chicago lost two of the early modernist women sculptors. Geraldine McCullough passed away in 2008 at the age of 91. Ruth Duckworth passed away in 2009 at the age of 90.