From the Archives
A look back
George Woodman. “Untitled,” c. 1970. 96 x 134 in. Acrylic on canvas © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
George Woodman, "Untitled," c. 1970
Last week was an exciting one at the Woodman Family Foundation. Upon their long-awaited return to New York, we were treated to a room full of George Woodman’s paintings. And wow we were bowled over by how fresh and contemporary these paintings feel, despite the fact that they were made some 50 years ago. We were struck by the subtle and shifting interplay of color and pattern and the raw intelligence of George's approach, which are slowly revealed over the course of a lingering look. What a pleasure to see these ambitious and original works in person.
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.
L to R: Installation view, “Low Balustrade Screen” or "Garden Balustrade Screen" (1981) at Haber-Theodore Gallery, New York, 1982 / George Woodman. "Low Balustrade Screen" or "Garden Balustrade Screen," 1981. 151 1/2 x 42 in. Acrylic on canvas, five panels with hinges / Brochure for exhibition “Partitions” at Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, New York, 1982. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Installation view, George Woodman, “Low Balustrade Screen” (1981) at Haber-Theodore Gallery, New York, 1982. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
George Woodman in "Partitions" at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, 1982
In the fall of 1982, the exhibition “Partitions” at Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery featured the work of 15 artists—including George Woodman—concerned with contemporary interpretations of screens. As hybrid sculptural, decorative, functional objects, partitions and interest in them were a kind of corollary to the burgeoning Pattern and Decoration Movement, and described by critic John Perreault, who wrote the exhibition’s essay, as “ubiquitous,” “a phenomenon,” and “a challenge to some preconceptions about art."
Letter from George Woodman to Francesca Woodman, September 4, 1977. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
A letter from George Woodman to Francesca Woodman, September 4, 1977
September of 1977 marked the start of new academic year for each of the Woodmans and the pursuit of teaching or studies in four different locations around the US and Europe. Francesca Woodman had just begun her fruitful year in Rome with the RISD European Honors Program, after spending some time in Antella. In a letter sent to her from Boulder, George Woodman recaps summer travels and reports on the rest of the family’s activities.
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.
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: George Woodman’s exhibition brochure, Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Boulder, CO, Fall 1981 | Reviews in the Daily Camera and Rocky Mountain News, October 1981. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
George Woodman’s exhibition brochure, Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Boulder, Colorado, Fall 1981. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
George Woodman at the Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, Boulder, Colorado, Fall 1981
George Woodman’s exhibition at the Boulder Center for the Visual Arts in the fall of 1981 was a survey of his various approaches to pattern over 15 years, ranging from his complex tessellations, to the use of pattern to unify a surface, to a rigorous examination of the decorative, and finally to the all-encompassing perceptual experience of his room-scaled paper tile installations.
L to R: "Untitled," 1978 | Invitation by Francesca Woodman | Installation views, Woods-Gerry Gallery, RISD, 1978 / Review by David K. Miller, 1978. Woodman Family Foundation Archives
Invitation by Francesca Woodman, 1978 © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Francesca Woodman's BFA graduate exhibition at Woods-Gerry Hall Gallery, RISD, 1978
Francesca Woodman’s graduate exhibition as a student at the Rhode Island School of Design was held at the school’s Woods-Gerry Gallery in November 1978. She considered it a “swan song” to her time there as shown in her photocopied invitation. She reported on the opening in a letter to her friend Edith Schloss: “you would have enjoyed it i bought all these bird whistles that one fills with water and they warble in n.y. do you remember them from when you used to live there? anyway the room was very echoey with these things and i actually enjoyed the opening.”
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.
L to R: “Guerilla Gallerizing” review by Peter Frank in “The Village Voice,” May 7, 1979 | George Woodman. "Untitled," c. 1975-77. 67 x 67 in. Acrylic on canvas © Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Woodman Family Foundation Archives
"Guerilla Gallerizing” review by Peter Frank in “The Village Voice,” May 7, 1979. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
George Woodman review by Peter Frank in "The Village Voice," May 7, 1979
In May of 1979, George Woodman received this review from “The Village Voice” in the mail, clipped and sent to him by his daughter Francesca. It was addressed in her hand “For Daddy,” and pointed out where his work is discussed.
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.”
Francesca Woodman birth announcement, drawing by George Woodman, 1958. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Francesca Woodman birth announcement, 1958
Francesca Woodman was born on this day in 1958. Her artist parents used this drawing by George, recently discovered in the family archive, to share the good news with family and friends.