This month, explore two group exhibitions in New York showcasing diverse works by Betty Woodman from the 1990s and 2000s. A cosmopolitan artist, Woodman masterfully blends materials, techniques, and ideas cultivated from a life spent engaging with the breadth of art history.

Her versatile approach is evident in the works on view— while the classic white of biscuit porcelain “achieves a Minimalist clarity” highlighted by form, the painted surface and intentional placement of her triptych strike up a dialogue between painting and sculpture. As Ida Panicelli wrote in 2009: [Woodman] continuously mixes various languages, juxtaposing high and low, East and West, ancient and modern, without fearing contradiction of straying into pastiche, such is the depth of her knowledge.”

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Opening Friday, September 13

The Invention of Truth

601Artspace

88 Eldridge St, New York

This exhibition looks at the ways artists use history as material in their work: distorting it, building upon it, responding to it. Some draw eerie parallels between the past and the present moment, some reenact the past with ‘a twist’, while others create a whole new version of the past in order to imagine what our world would be like if only history had gone a little differently.

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Opening Saturday, September 21

Sèvres Extraordinaire! Sculpture from 1740 until Today

Bard Graduate Center Gallery

18 W 86th St, New York

This exhibition presents the history of the storied Sèvres Manufactory in France and its production of extraordinary sculptural objects in various ceramic pastes. Woodman worked on-and-off at the manufactory for more than 20 years, choosing to work with soft-paste porcelain—the first type of porcelain used there in the period around 1750-1800.