Photograph courtesy Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.
b. 1893 d. 1998
Site Affiliation: Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
Beatrice Wood was an important contemporary artist, craftsperson and writer. Her life ran the course of the 20th century and included many of the figures that shaped it. She began her career as an artist as part of the New York Dada Movement, and began working in ceramics at the age of 40. Ultimately, her genius was in the marriage of wide-ranging influences in her work. The spirit of Dadaism, impact of Modernism, embrace of Eastern philosophy, influence of folk art and even the ornament of ethnic jewelry were all combined in her ceramics. Her work reveals a mastery of form, combined with a preference for the naïveté of folk art. Ultimately, it is impossible to separate her life experiences from the work she created, as she truly mastered the art of a life.
Primary Medium: Ceramics, works on paper (graphite, colored pencil, and watercolor)
Primary Stylistic Term: Modern
Fun Fact: Tutoring Beatrice Wood in his studio, Marcel Duchamp sought to convince her that an artist is not a craftsperson, or a technician, leading her pottery to be often loose in form and design with a sense of naïvety in her sculptural work.
Recommended Publications: I Shock Myself, the Autobiography of Beatrice Wood by Beatrice Wood (1985); Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Art and Life of Beatrice Wood by Garth Clark (2001)