Rudy Autio

{{Infobox artist

| name = Rudy Autio

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| birth_name = Arne Rudolph Autio

| birth_date = {{birth date |1926|10|8}}

| birth_place = Butte, Montana

| death_date = {{death date and age |2007|6|20|1926|10|8}}

| death_place = Missoula, Montana

| nationality = American

| known_for = Sculpture

| training = Montana State University
Washington State University

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Rudy Autio, born Arne Rudolph Autio, (October 8, 1926 – June 20, 2007) was an American sculptor, best known for his figurative ceramic vessels.

Biography

File:Two Ladies Averting the Angry Swallow by Rudy Autio.jpg

Autio was born to a family of Finnish immigrants in Butte, Montana. As a child, he first learned to draw by taking evening classes from Works Progress Administration artists working in Butte. He served in the Navy for two years during World War II. After the war ended, he studied art at Montana State University (then Montana State College) in Bozeman, where he first met Peter Voulkos, who became a lifelong friend. Frances Senska taught both of them.{{cite web|title=Frances Senska - Art All The Time|url=http://www.montanapbs.org/MontanaTheSecondCentury/episode906/|publisher=Montana PBS|date=March 21, 1997|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330174219/http://montanapbs.org/MontanaTheSecondCentury/episode906|archive-date=March 30, 2012|access-date=2017-01-02}} Autio earned a Master of Arts degree from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. In 1952, Autio was a founding resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation. In 1957, Autio started the ceramics department at the University of Montana, in Missoula.{{cite web | year=2011 | title=Research collections | work=Oral history interview with Rudy Autio, 1983 Oct. 10–1984 Jan. 28 | publisher=Archives of American Art | url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-rudy-autio-11713 | access-date=18 Jun 2011}} He taught there for twenty-eight years and, until his death, he was retired as Professor Emeritus.{{cite web|title=Rudy Autio|url=http://www.montana-artists.com/Artists/Rudy_Autio.asp|publisher=Montana Artists|access-date=July 24, 2011}} Autio died of leukemia in 2007.{{cite news |title=Ceramic Artist Rudy Autio Dies of Leukemia at Age 80 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/110095517/rudy-autio-1926-2007/ |work=The Montana Standard |date=June 21, 2007 |location=Butte, MT |page=5 |access-date=September 24, 2022 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}

Autio's torso-shaped vessels are painted with figures and animals in a free linear style reminiscent of Matisse's drawings. They are found in permanent collections of museums around the world, including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Brooklyn Museum,{{Cite web|title=Brooklyn Museum|url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/112404|access-date=2021-06-04|website=www.brooklynmuseum.org}} the Carnegie Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=CMOA Collection|url=https://collection.cmoa.org/objects/86dbbfbb-9370-4192-b765-c0c41c127bd5?page=1&perPage=10|access-date=2021-06-04|website=collection.cmoa.org|language=en}} the Metropolitan Museum, the Montana Museum of Art and Culture,{{Cite web|title=Montana Museum of Art and Culture|url=https://www.umt.edu/montanamuseum/permanent/montanamuseum/permanent/artists/rudyautio.php|access-date=2021-06-04|website=www.umt.edu|language=en}} the Museum of the Rockies,{{Cite web|last=Incorporated|first=Prime|title=Stories Behind the Objects {{!}} Rudy Autio|url=https://museumoftherockies.org/online-learning/stories-behind-the-objects-rudy-autio|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Museum of the Rockies|language=en}} the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Armington Stampede|url=https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/11895/armington-stampede;jsessionid=54BB318C8AA6B002239CDC715FE8B00B|access-date=2021-06-04|website=art.nelson-atkins.org|language=en}} the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution, the Applied Arts Museum in Helsinki, the Canton Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Canton Museum of Art Collection|url=https://www.cantonartcollection.com/itemdetail.php?work_id=2155|access-date=2021-06-04|website=www.cantonartcollection.com}} the National Museum in Stockholm, the Portland Art Museum,{{Cite web|title=Woman, Fish, and Heron Vessel|url=http://portlandartmuseum.us/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=66831;type=101|access-date=2021-06-04|website=portlandartmuseum.us}} the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,{{Cite web|title=Rudy Autio: Untitled|url=https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/105154/untitled?ctx=309e4215224d8eb06ff9bc7cdaaa80a929247598&idx=17}} the University of Michigan Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=Exchange: Atomic Cloud|url=https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/36376/view|access-date=2021-06-04|website=exchange.umma.umich.edu}} the Chazen Museum of Art,{{Cite web|date=2020-08-05|title=New Accession Highlight: Cobalt Blues|url=https://chazen.wisc.edu/new-accession-highlight-cobalt-blues/|access-date=2021-06-04|website=Chazen Museum of Art|language=en-US}} and the Missoula Art Museum.{{Cite web|title=Object Record|url=https://missoulaartmuseum.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/07ADF1A0-BD8F-4284-8A1A-323764090972}}