Betty Woodman

Betty Woodman’s Chinese Pleasure (2007-2008) was commissioned by the U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program for the United States Embassy in Beijing. Woodman was inspired by and freely borrowed from visual influences all over the world and throughout art history, here incorporating three distinct moments in the history of Chinese art, ranging from Sichuan bronzes to popular culture into this dramatic installation.

In 1960, after returning to Boulder, Colorado, from their first year together in Italy, the Woodman family moved into the Sirotkin House. One of more than a dozen modernist homes in Boulder by architect Tician Papachristou, the house was designed for the original owner as a pair with the house next door.

In 1987, Betty Woodman began her work at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, as an artist invited by the French Ministry of Culture. Over the course of more than twenty years, she made a series of sculptural vases and cups and saucers in brilliantly decorated porcelain, later shown at the Palazzo Pitti in her adopted home city of Florence.

Beginning in 1965, Betty, George, Charlie and Francesca Woodman spent an influential year together as a family in Italy, immersed in museums, art, and culture. Their affinity for Florence took root, leading to the acquisition of a farmhouse in Antella several years later that has served as a family and creative nucleus ever since.

The catalogue for Pattern, Crime & Decoration—a two-part exhibition at MAMCO, Geneva and Le Consortium, Dijon —focuses on the work of artists associated with the Pattern and Decoration movement in the US. It includes paintings by George Woodman and wall-based ceramic sculptures by Betty Woodman.

Her exhibition in the Matrix series at Wadsworth Atheneum in 1992 helped to define a context for Betty Woodman's work in ceramics within the larger world of contemporary art, highlighting "that Woodman sees herself ‘dealing with painting as much as with sculpture.'"

Betty Woodman’s The Red Table (2014) is included in this exhibition of works from the museum’s collection which explore the significance of our domestic spaces.

This exhibition of works spanning 70 years looks at ways that artists draw on craft traditions and materials. It includes multiple works by Betty Woodman, from her early push beyond production pottery to more recent works showcasing her talents as a painter and sculptor.

Betty Woodman is widely known for her seven-decade, groundbreaking engagement with clay, in particular her deconstruction and re-framing of the classical vase.

Today we celebrate what would have been Betty and George Woodman’s 67th wedding anniversary.

Happy Birthday to Betty! Celebrating and missing her indefatigable spirit, zest for life, and myriad talents.

Ceramic and mixed-media installations spanning Betty Woodman’s career are featured in this exuberant exhibition of works tracing the legacy of Pattern and Decoration.