L to R: Betty Woodman and George Woodman at Betty’s kiln, Antella, Italy, c. 1973. Woodman Family Foundation Archive / Betty Woodman. “Aztec Vase and Carpet: April,” 2016. 38 ½ x 58 x 43 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, paint, and canvas / George Woodman. “Piazza San Francesco di Paola,” 1965. 32 x 32 in. Oil paint on canvas.
Betty Woodman and George Woodman at Betty’s kiln, Antella, Italy, c. 1973. Woodman Family Foundation Archive.
UPCOMING EXHIBITION "Betty Woodman and George Woodman," Charleston, Lewes, East Sussex, UK, March 25-September 10, 2023
“Betty Woodman and George Woodman” is the first UK exhibition to show both artists' work together, celebrating the work of ground-breaking American ceramic artist Betty Woodman and the painter and photographer George Woodman.
L to R: Images 1-5: Betty Woodman and George Woodman working in Bud and Barbara Shark’s studio, Holualoa, Hawaii, 1996 / Image 6: Betty Woodman and George Woodman in front of lava wall, City of Refuge, Hawaii, 1996 / Images 7–8: Betty Woodman and George Woodman, South Point, Hawaii, 1996. All photos by Barbara Shark, courtesy Woodman Family Foundation Archive.
Betty Woodman working in Bud and Barbara Shark’s studio, Holualoa, Hawaii, 1996. Photo by Barbara Shark.
Betty Woodman and George Woodman at Bud and Barbara Shark's studio, Holualoa, Hawaii, 1996: From the Archives...
In January of 1996, Betty and George Woodman escaped a snowy Colorado winter to join their good friends Bud and Barbara Shark in Holualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii.
L to R: All artworks by George Woodman. Images 1-8: Spreads from “George Woodman,” EYEMAZING 4, 2012 / "Loie and Florentine Aristocrat," 2008. 19 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “La Pietra Madonna,” 2007. 12 x 15 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “Nancy with a Green Leg,” 2005. 24 x 20 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “Loie Wearing an 18th Century Sculpture,” 2012. 24 x 20 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “Angel Grieving Over Lion,” 2007. 24 x 20 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “In La Pietra Library,” 2009. 42 x 36 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print / “Loie Meets a Rousseau,” 2009. 57 1/2 x 39 1/2 in. Gelatin silver print / “Loie Embraces a Piero di Cosimo,” 2009. 24 x 20 in. Gelatin silver print.
Spread from “George Woodman,” EYEMAZING 4, 2012
George Woodman in "EYEMAZING Magazine," 2012: From the Archives...
“The painted photographs of George Woodman are ripe with mental connections, rich evidence of the artist’s talent for noticing, for witnessing, for making new wholeness,” wrote Clayton Maxwell in a 2012 essay for EYEMAZING magazine, which accompanied a portfolio of his photographs combined with oil paint and other images.
Video still from "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s." Produced by David Kordansky Gallery Studio footage of Betty Woodman excerpted from the documentary Betty Woodman: Thinking Out Loud (1991), © Charles Woodman Voiceover excerpted from an interview with John Perreault Exhibition footage by Sean Hanley Editing by Destefano DeLuise.
Video still from "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s." Produced by David Kordansky Gallery. Studio footage of Betty Woodman excerpted from the documentary Betty Woodman: Thinking Out Loud (1991), © Charles Woodman. Voiceover excerpted from an interview with John Perreault. Exhibition footage by Sean Hanley Editing by Destefano DeLuise.
"Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
Excerpt from the documentary “Betty Woodman: Thinking Out Loud,” 1991 © Charles Woodman.
_RH_M.jpg)
Francesca Woodman. “Untitled,” Providence, Rhode Island, c. 1977. 5 5/16 x 5 1/4 in. Gelatin silver print.
Francesca Woodman. “Untitled,” Providence, Rhode Island, c. 1977. 5 5/16 x 5 1/4 in. Gelatin silver print.
NOW OPEN Francesca Woodman in “FEMME FATALE. Gaze—Power—Gender," Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany, December 9, 2022-April 10, 2023.
NOW OPEN Francesca Woodman in “FEMME FATALE. Gaze—Power—Gender” at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany. On view through April 10, 2023. Curated by Dr. Markus Bertsch.
L to R: Installation views, "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022. All images Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Installation view, "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
CLOSING TOMORROW “Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
Of this group of works from the 1990s, many not seen for decades, Johanna Fateman wrote in her recent review in The New Yorker: “As with everything on view in this wonderful show, the installation is so gestural and so fluid that it’s easy to forget that the ecstatic whole is composed of brittle parts.”
Installation view, "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022. All images Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Installation view, "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, 2022. All images Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
"Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s" featured in The New Yorker, December 5, 2022
Read a review on "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s" by Johanna Fateman in The New Yorker. The exhibition is currently on view through December 17 at David Kordansky Gallery, New York.
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. “Balustrade Relief Vase 6-94,” 1994. 62 x 47 x 9 in / “Balustrade Relief Vase 97-01,” 1997. 72 x 53 x 8 3/4 in / “Balustrade Relief Vase 96-11,” 1996. 68 1/2 x 74 x 9 in / “Balustrade Relief Vase 96-2,” 1996. 68 x 73 x 10 in / “Balustrade Relief Vase 03-3,” 2003. 48 x 110 x 9 1/2 in / Installation view, "Betty Woodman,” Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy, 2015 / “Of Botticelli,” 2013. 10 1/2 ft x 32 ft x 3/4 in / “Wallpaper 16,” 2017. 112 x 209 x 1 in / "Wallpaper 19,” 2017. 65 x 59 in / “Outside and In,” 2017. 75 1/2 x 120 x 10 1/2 in. Images 1-9: All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint / Image 10: Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, paint, canvas, and wood. Images 1-4: Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman. “Balustrade Relief Vase 6-94,” 1994. 62 x 47 x 9 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman's "Balustrade Relief Vases," 1990s: "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
The Balustrade Relief Vases, which Betty Woodman began making in the 1990s, were a turning point in her work, in which she fully embraced the space and concerns of painting, through sculptural materials.
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. Images 1-2: “January Kimono Vases #2,” 1995. 28 1/2 x 45 x 9 3/4 in / “Untitled Diptych,” c. 1994. 28 1/2 x 51 x 8 1/2 in / “Seashore,” 1998. 25 3/4 x 57 x 8 1/2 in / “Green Nude,” 2007. 33 x 33 3/4 x 6 3/4 in / “After the Bath,” 2011. 35 x 37 x 7 in / Images 7-8: “Fair Welcome and Pleasure,” 2008. 33 x 78 1/4 x 7 1/2 in / Images 9-10: “Kabuki Diptych,” 2016. 35 x 67 x 8 in. All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint. Images 1-4: Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman. “January Kimono Vases #2,” 1995. 28 1/2 x 45 x 9 3/4 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint.
Betty Woodman's "Kimono Vases" and "Diptychs," 1990s: "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
"The evolution of the Kimono Vases began with three-part vases, or triptychs. I thought about the movement from one piece to another; in and out of the negative and positive shapes so that it ultimately became one. The triptychs got bigger and the handles became flat, more abstract and complicated,” Betty Woodman wrote in 1991.
Betty Woodman, Italy, 1995, Woodman Family Foundation Archive.
Betty Woodman, Italy, 1995, Woodman Family Foundation Archive.
IN CONVERSATION: Amy Sherlock and Judith Tannenbaum on BETTY WOODMAN moderated by Kyle Dancewicz, SculptureCenter Thursday, December 8, 7:00pm
Please join us at 7 PM on Thursday, December 8 at SculptureCenter for Amy Sherlock and Judith Tannenbaum on Betty Woodman, a conversation discussing the artist’s life and work during the 1990s, a crucial period in her career.
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. Installation view, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, New York, 1986 / “Persian Silk Pillow Pitcher,” 1982. 19 x 23 x 13 in. Collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / “Pesce Spada,” 1989. 11 x 26 x 21 in / “Indonesian Napkin Holder,” 1984. 18 1/2 x 22 1/2 x 10 in. Collection of Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York / “Muscle Boys and Shadows,” 1984. 17 x 45 x 13 in / “Gentian,” 1986. 27 x 16 x 8 in / Installation view, “The Art of Betty Woodman,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 2006. Photo: Eli Ping. All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint. Image 2: Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Betty Woodman. Installation view, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, New York, 1986.
Betty Woodman works from the 1980s: "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
Betty Woodman began her career as a potter, inspired by a Bauhaus ethos to make beautiful objects for people to use in their daily lives. By 1980, when she and her husband George Woodman—a painter and photographer—purchased the New York City loft where they lived and worked for part of each year until the end of their lives, she had already begun moving away from the purely functional concerns of ceramics.
All artworks by Betty Woodman. “Kimono Vases ‘October’,” 1990. 30 3/4 x 43 x 9 1/2 in / “Still Life Vase #9,” 1990. 31 1/2 x 30 x 8 in / Images 3-5: “Double Vase Diptych,” 1996. 30 x 43 1/2 x 9 in / Images 6-8: “Two Women Vase Diptych,” 1996. 24 x 44 x 6 in / “Beccafumi Vase Triptych,” 1996. 33 1/2 x 74 1/2 x 10 1/2 in / “Balustrade Relief Vase 97-01,” 1997. 72 x 53 x 8 3/4 in. All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint. Images 1, 2 & 10: Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photography: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman. “Kimono Vases ‘October’,” 1990. 30 3/4 x 43 x 9 1/2 in.
Betty Woodman reviews from the 1990s: "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
The 1990s was a career-defining period for Betty Woodman in which her work in ceramic declared itself as painting and sculpture through her radical formal innovations. This shift was affirmed by contemporary art critics, who increasingly discussed her work in relation to sculpture and painting of the day.