Ulrich Rückriem completed an apprenticeship as a stonemason in Düren from 1957 to 1959, after which he was a journeyman at the cathedral workshop in Cologne until 1961. At the same time, he began to study art at the Cologne Werkschulen (Cologne Academy of Fine and Applied Arts) and from 1963 he worked as a freelance artist. Until 1968 he lived in a castle in Nörvenich near Düren. In 1969 Rückriem moved to Mönchengladbach, where he shared a studio with Blinky Palermo until 1975. From 1974 onwards, Rückriem was Professor of Sculpture at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg. In 1984 he became a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and in 1988 at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Rückriem had his first solo exhibition in 1964 at the Cathedral Gallery in Cologne, and from 1967 he exhibited in numerous galleries, museums, art galleries and art associations in Germany and abroad, among them: Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren (1965, 2001), Galerie Ad Libitum, Antwerp (1967), Konrad Fischer Galerie, Düsseldorf (1969, 1971, 1974, 1980, 1986, 1989), Galerie Ricke, Cologne (1970), Galerie Paul Maenz, Berlin (1971, 1974), Paula Cooper Gallery, New York (1972), Kunsthalle Tübingen (1973), Städtisches Museum Mönchengladbach (1973, 1987), Frankfurter Kunstverein (1974), Kunstraum München (1974), The Museum of Modern Art Oxford (1976), Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1977), Museum Folkwang, Essen (1978), Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster (1979), Sperone Westwater Fischer Gallery, New York (1979), Graeme Murray Gallery, Edinburgh (1979), Durand-Dessert Gallery, Paris (1979), Fort Worth Art Museum (1981), Centre Pompidou, Paris (1983), Städtische Galerie im Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (1984), Kamakura Gallery, Tokyo (1984), Neue Galerie, Kassel (1985), Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève (1991), Serpentine Gallery, London (1991), Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1995), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1997), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (1998, 2004, 2009), Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (2001), Kunstmuseum Bonn (2002), Gemeentemuseum Den Haag (2003), Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2004), Hamburger Kunsthalle (2005), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2007), Kunsthalle Bielefeld (2017). Rückriem was featured at documenta 5 (1972), 7 (1982), 8 (1987) and 9 (1992) as well as at the 38th Venice Biennale (1978). His work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions, including "14 mal 14", Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden (1972), "Projekt 74. Aspekte internationaler Kunst am Anfang der 70er Jahre", Kunsthalle Köln/Kölnischer Kunstverein (1974), "Art Allemagne aujourd'hui", Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (1981), "Westkunst. Contemporary Art since 1939", Rheinhallen, Cologne (1981), "von hier aus. Zwei Monate neue deutsche Kunst in Düsseldorf", Hall 13 of Messe Düsseldorf (1984), "Bodenskulptur", Kunsthalle Bremen (1986), sculpture projects, Münster (1987, 1997), Biennale São Paulo (1989), "Big Bang. Destruction et création dans l'art du 20e siècle", Centre Pompidou, Paris (2005/06), "The Wandering Line. Thinking Through Drawing", Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2008), "Der Westen leuchtet. Eine Standortbestimmung der Kunstlandschaft des Rheinlandes", Kunstmuseum Bonn (2010) and "Primary Structures. Meisterwerke der Minimal Art", MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main (2017). Rückriem has received several prizes and awards, including the Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für Bildende Kunst (1973), the Konrad-von-Soest-Preis (1984), the Deutsche Kritikerpreis für den Bereich Bildende Kunst (1984), the Arnold-Bode-Preis from the documenta-capital Kassel (1985), the Piepenbrock Preis für Skulptur (1998), the Große Kulturpreis der Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland (2001) and the Kunstpreis des Kreises Düren (2015).
