"Love for marble is certainly in Erdman’s blood. He lives in southern Vermont, an area so rich in marble quarries that during the 19th and early 20th centuries, most of the marble used in public buildings and monuments in the U.S. came from there."
Sculptor Richard Erdman was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1952. He studied at the University of Vermont, where he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2016. He works from studios in both Williston, Vermont, and Carrara, Italy.
After graduating, Erdman traveled to Carrara, Italy, the world’s finest source of marble. There he found, as he puts it, “...worlds of possibility and wonder in the sublime beauty of ancient stone...” An early apprenticeship with master stone carvers in Carrara grew into a 35-year relationship with family-run studio SGF Scultura that continues to this day.
In 1983, Erdman was commissioned to contribute a landmark sculpture in travertine to the world-renowned Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo. in Purchase, New York. Passage, carved from a single 350-ton block of stone, stands alongside works by 20th century masters including: Alexander Calder, Jean Debuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Isamu Noguchi, and Claes Oldenburg.
Erdman’s marble and bronze sculptures are internationally celebrated for their provocative language of curves and contrast. Their dialogue with timescales both geologic and human, alongside their gesture towards the transcendent power of natural phenomena. Erdman's work can be found in public and private collections spanning six continents, featured in 160 solo and group exhibitions and in 140 museums worldwide. Notable collections include: The United Nations, Museum of Fine Art in Boston, Princeton University, The Rockefeller Collection, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo.
Throughout the past decade Erdman has collaborated with leading architectural firms including Richard Meier & Partners and Citterio-Viel on two public projects in Taiwan. Arete, in Bardiglio marble was unveiled in 2018 in Taipei, and Seri Tai, a monumental sculpture carved from white Carrara marble, was installed in Taichung in 2019. Most recently, Belladonna, Richard’s largest sculpture since his landmark work, Passage, was commissioned in Carrara marble for placement in Reno, Nevada.