Betty Woodman. Installation view and details, "Alessandro’s Rooms," 2011. 102.5 x 354.5 x 15.75 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Betty Woodman. "Alessandro’s Rooms," 2011. 102.5 x 354.5 x 15.75 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
ON VIEW: Betty Woodman in "The Flames: The Age of Ceramics" at Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France, 2021
"The Flames" takes a transhistorical approach to ceramics to assert the critical relationship of clay to both art and humankind. The exhibition combines ancient objects dating back to the Neolithic with those made by contemporary artists—including Betty Woodman—and everything in between.
L to R: Entrance to the Woodman family’s farmhouse adorned with a Pillow Pitcher by Betty atop a wall of George’s “sgraffito,” 2017 / View of the olive groves from Betty’s studio, 2004 / Betty cutting well-tended roses growing against the wall next to her studio, 2008 / Betty making flower arrangements with roses, dahlias and gerbera daisies from her garden, 2006 / Betty putting fresh flowers in a group of her “Vase and Stand” works, 1984 / Betty, a young family friend, and Francesca, c. late 1960s / Table set for dinner, 2016, photo by Brigid McCaffrey / Generous bowls and baskets full of figs, plums, peaches, grapes, and tomatoes, 2016 / Betty, Charlie and Francesca cooking together, c. early 1970s / George at his studio door, 2006 / A view out from the same door, 2008 / Francesca and Betty holding their bunnies, c. 1968 / Charlie on his motorino, c. late 1960s / Betty and friend with Betty’s triptych “June in Italy” (2001), c. 2001 / George with his sculpture, c. early 1970s / he Woodman family’s patio with potted geraniums and the olive grove in view, c. 1990s / Morning glories climbing George’s “sgrafitto” wall, c. 1990s. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
L to R: Entrance to the Woodman family’s farmhouse adorned with a Pillow Pitcher by Betty atop a wall of George’s “sgraffito,” 2017. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
AUGUST IN ANTELLA
Beginning in the summer of 1968, the Woodman Family spent every summer at their stone farmhouse in Antella, Italy, just outside of Florence. As children, Charlie and Francesca joined their parents and later visited on their own, soaking in Italian culture and influences. Betty and George made some of their most important artistic breakthroughs there—a place George once described as "an artist residency for two.” All summer long, their garden produced abundant food and flowers—the tomatoes were particularly good in August, happily shared with frequent visitors.
All images related to Betty Woodman’s “Bronze Bench #3,” 2003. 57 x 62 x 16 in. Bronze, patina. From L to R: clay models for bronze benches outside Betty’s studio in Antella, Italy / Benches in progress at the Fonderia with Betty’s full-scale drawing / Applying the patina according to Betty’s drawing / The finished bench arrives at Betty’s studio in Antella / Installation view in the courtyard of the Palazzo Pitti, Museo delle Porcellane, Florence, Italy, 2010 / Installation view, “Betty Woodman: In the Garden,” Greenwood Gardens, Short Hills, New Jersey, 2016 / Betty outside of her studio in Antella. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Clay models for Betty Woodman's bronze benches outside Betty’s studio in Antella, Italy, c. 2003. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Betty Woodman's functional bronze sculptures
On occasion, Betty Woodman translated her abiding interest in the subject of function into materials other than clay, always pushing the possibilities of a particular medium. In 1999, she began an ongoing collaboration with Fonderia Artistica Belfiore in Pietrasanta, Italy, an idea which came from a conversation with her longtime gallerist, Max Protetch and was in part inspired by fellow gallery artist Scott Burton’s sculptural furniture, as well as the formal Italian gardens she had spent decades exploring.
Envelope for letter from George Woodman in Boulder, Colorado to Francesca Woodman in Rome, Italy, October 19, 1977. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Betty Woodman, Francesca Woodman, and George Woodman in “Interior Scroll or What I Did on My Vacation” at S&S Corner Shop, The Art Building, Springs, New York, 2021
We are pleased to announce that this exhibition includes a selection of correspondence written between Betty, Francesca and George Woodman in 1978, as well as Francesca Woodman’s “Selected Video Works,” 1976-1978.
Saul Steinberg show announcement from George Woodman to Betty Woodman, 1952; front and back. Woodman Family Foundation Archives
Saul Steinberg show announcement from George Woodman to Betty Woodman, 1952. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Saul Steinberg show announcement from George Woodman to Betty Woodman, 1952
George Woodman and Betty Abrahams wrote each other regularly beginning soon after they met in 1951—while Betty was at home in Newton, MA and later in Fiesole, Italy and George at home in Concord, NH or at school at Harvard in Cambridge, MA—until they married in 1953.
Betty Woodman. “Shelf and Vase: Zante,” 1985. 31 x 21 x 9 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Betty Woodman in “With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art 1972-1985” at Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, 2021
This ambitious exhibition, curated by Anna Katz, brings together American artists, including Betty Woodman, associated with the Pattern and Decoration movement in the first such comprehensive and scholarly survey. The exhibition showcases painting, sculpture, collage, ceramics, installation and performance which embraced craft-based and decorative traditions and approached art-making from a sometimes dizzying appreciation of historic sources and feminist aesthetics.
Family photographs of the Woodman’s sightseeing in Italy, circa 1959-60 and 1965-66. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
George, Charles and Francesca Woodman in Rome, Italy, 1966. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
The Woodman family explores Italy, circa 1959-60 and 1965-66
The Woodman family’s lifelong love of Italy began in 1951 with Betty’s yearlong apprenticeship in Fiesole. After marrying in 1953, Betty and George took their young children, Charles and Francesca, for extended stays in 1959-60 and again in 1965-66.
L to R: “1+1=2” exhibition catalogue, 1984 | Review of “1+1=2” show in “The New York Times,” February 17, 1984. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
"1+1=2" exhibition catalogue, 1984. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Betty and George Woodman in "1+1=2" exhibition at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, 1984
In 1984, following a series of exhibitions at PS1 dedicated to “Art Couples,” art historian and critic Donald Kuspit organized "1 + 1 = 2" at Bernice Steinbaum Gallery in Manhattan. The exhibition paired the work of 31 artist couples and acknowledged a long-overdue cultural shift in recognizing women artists as peers to their male counterparts. Betty Woodman and George Woodman—included in the exhibition and married for more than thirty years at that point—often credited their mutual respect for and support of each other as artists as the bedrock of their marriage.
Betty Woodman. Presenting Food, 1985. Installation views at the Fabric Workshop, New York. First image courtesy Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Betty Woodman. "Presenting Food," 1985. Installation view at the Fabric Workshop, New York. Courtesy Fabric Workshop and Museum.
Betty Woodman's "Presenting Food" at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1985
“Presenting Food,” 1985, marked Betty Woodman’s second project with the Fabric Workshop and Museum and a farewell to her work as a functional potter. For this dinner-performance event, held at the museum’s New York City gallery space, Woodman responded to chef Daniel Mattroce’s menu with her signature ceramic dinnerware and serving dishes, accompanied by fabrics she designed and printed at FWM’s Philadelphia studios. Woodman later recounted: “These are my last functional pieces, ‘presented’ like the food in an almost operatic finale.”
Betty Woodman. "Window," 1980. Pigment, thread, velcro on cotton, canvas, sateen, and earthenware. 62 x 75 in. Collection of The Fabric Workshop and Museum. Photo: Phillip Unetic
Betty Woodman, "Window," 1980. Collection of The Fabric Workshop and Museum. Photo: Phillip Unetic © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Betty Woodman in "Hard/Cover" at Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2021
"Hard/Cover" looks at the interdisciplinary practice of three influential artists who participated in FWM's unique residency program, as well as five contemporary artists whose new works are equally informed by process and the intersection of ceramics and screen printing.
Betty Woodman with "Aspen Garden Room," 1984. 8 x 10 x 11 ft. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, fabric. Installation view at Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, 1984.
Betty Woodman with "Aspen Garden Room," 1984. Installation view at Aspen Art Museum, Colorado, 1984. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Betty Woodman featured in Metropolis Magazine article "Ceramics and Architecture: The Legacy of Betty Woodman,” March 2021
Osman Can Yerbekan looks back on 1984 Metropolis Magazine feature on Betty Woodman and George Woodman, linking the early influence of architecture on Betty’s ceramics to her legacy as a radical sculptor.
Betty Woodman. "Pillow Pitcher: Sea of Japan," 1985. 17 x 24 1/2 x 18 inches. Glazed earthenware. Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection | "Shapes From Out of Nowhere: Towards Abstraction in Clay 1890-2018: The Robert A. Ellison Junior Collection" exhibition catalogue. Published by August Editions, January 5, 2021.
Betty Woodman. "Pillow Pitcher: Sea of Japan," 1985. 17 x 24 1/2 x 18 inches. Glazed earthenware. Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Betty Woodman in "Shapes from Out of Nowhere: Ceramics from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 2021
Betty Woodman in “Shapes from Out of Nowhere: Ceramics from the Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through August 29, 2021.