L to R: All artworks by George Woodman. “Untitled,” 1980. 85 x 84 in / “Untitled,” c. 1980-81. 75 x 110 in / “Untitled,” c. 1980-84. 44 x 32 in. Oil paint on canvas / “Iris,” 1991. 48 x 37 1/2 in. Collection of Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado / “Daphne,” 1982. 78 x 60 in / Detail of "Low Balustrade Screen (Garden Balustrade Screen),” 1981 / “Low Balustrade Screen (Garden Balustrade Screen),” 1981. 42 x 151 1/2 in. Each panel 42 x 30 in. Photo: John Berens / Irene Clurman. “George Woodman.” Arts Magazine, April 1982 / Installation view, “Paper Tilings,” 1982. Acrylic paint on paper. University Galleries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio. Woodman Family Foundation Archive. All artworks acrylic paint on canvas unless otherwise noted.
George Woodman. “Untitled,” 1980. 85 x 84 in. Acrylic paint on canvas.
Irene Clurman on George Woodman, "Arts Magazine," April 1982: READING ROOM
READING ROOM highlights past essays, reviews and interviews about Betty Woodman, Francesca Woodman, and George Woodman that provided new insights and lenses through which to understand their work. In her essay for "Arts Magazine” related to George Woodman’s 1982 solo exhibition at Haber-Theodore Gallery in New York, Irene Clurman discusses the transformation of Woodman’s patterns and palette into more representational forms.
Betty Woodman. "Night Window," 2016. 69 1/4 x 79 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas, and wood. Photo: Bruno Bruchi / George Woodman. "Canova Museum," 2010. 42 x 36 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print. Photo: Eliza Little.
Betty Woodman. "Night Window," 2016. 69 1/4 x 79 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas, and wood. Photo: Bruno Bruchi / George Woodman. "Canova Museum," 2010. 42 x 36 in. Oil paint on gelatin silver print. Photo: Eliza Little.
OPENING SATURDAY "Betty Woodman and George Woodman," Charleston, East Sussex, UK, March 25-September 10, 2023
Representing a decades-long dialogue in ceramics and paint, “Betty Woodman and George Woodman” brings together the artists’ vibrant ceramics, vivid abstract paintings, radical assemblages, and photographs, illuminated by archival materials. Focused on the couple’s prolific time at their farmhouse in Antella, Italy—where they lived and worked for part of each year for nearly fifty years—the exhibition explores the artists’ mutual influences and their shared life immersed in art, culture, travel and experimentation, reflected in kindred palettes and patterns.
L to R: Images 1-8: Stills from Francesca Woodman, "Selected Video Works," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976-78. Half-inch black-and-white open reel video with sound, transferred to DVD, 11:43 minutes / Pages from "Francesca Woodman." San Francisco: SFMOMA in association with DAP, New York, 2011.
Still from Francesca Woodman, "Selected Video Works," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976-78. Half-inch black-and-white open reel video with sound, transferred to DVD, 11:43 minutes.
Jennifer Blessing on Francesca Woodman's work in video: READING ROOM
READING ROOM highlights past essays, reviews and interviews about Betty Woodman, Francesca Woodman, and George Woodman that provided new insights and lenses through which to understand their work. In the catalogue that accompanied the exhibition Francesca Woodman, presented at SFMOMA, San Francisco in 2011 and the Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2012, Guggenheim Senior Curator of Photography Jennifer Blessing writes about the primacy of process in Francesca Woodman’s work in video
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. “The Summer House,” 2015. 338 1/2 x 94 1/2 x 12 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas, and wood. Photo: Bruno Bruchi / Images 2-3: Details of “The Summer House,” 2015 / “Vase Upon Vase: Orfeo,” 2013. 66 1/2 x 23 x 16 1/4 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, and wood. Photo: Brian Forrest / “Cherry Blossom Time,” 2005. 65 x 27 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. Photo: Christopher Burke / Installation view of “Portugal” (2005), The Great Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006. 34 1/4 x 29 1/2 x 18 in. Photo: Peter Harkawik / “Rose et Noir,” 1989. 21 x 26 x 22 in. Photo: Christopher Burke / Images 5-7: All glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and acrylic paint / Cover of “Frieze," No. 177, March, 2016.
Betty Woodman. “The Summer House,” 2015. 338 1/2 x 94 1/2 x 12 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas, and wood.
Betty Woodman interview with Amy Sherlock, "Feel More," "Frieze," No. 177, March 2016: READING ROOM
READING ROOM highlights past essays, reviews and interviews about Betty Woodman, Francesca Woodman, and George Woodman that provided new insights and lenses through which to understand their work. “FEEL MORE: Ahead of her solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Betty Woodman talks to Amy Sherlock about ceramic histories and modern painting.”
L to R: All images George Woodman, ceramic tile installation, 1984, Delavan-Canisius College Station, NFTA-Metro, Buffalo, NY.
George Woodman, ceramic tile installation, 1984, Delavan-Canisius College Station, NFTA-Metro, Buffalo, NY.
George Woodman's ceramic tile installation, 1984, Delavan-Canisius College Station, NFTA-Metro, Buffalo, NY: From the Archives...
In 1984, George Woodman’s first public commission in ceramic tile was installed in the Delavan-Canisius NFTA-Metro station in Buffalo, New York. Three walls in the station’s mezzanine—measuring 11 feet high by 72 feet long in total—are still today covered in pattern made from 8 inch square tiles, greeting riders as they pass from the trains to the street.
L to R: Cover of "Francesca Woodman: The Artist's Books,” MACK, London, UK, 2023 / All artist’s books by Francesca Woodman. Covers and spreads from “Some Disordered Interior Geometries," 1980 / "Quaderno dei Dettati e dei Temi," 1978-1980 / “Quaderno," 1978 / "Untitled (Pilgrim Mills)," 1977-1978 / "Angels, Calendar, Notebook," 1977-1978 / "Portraits, Friends, Equations," 1977-1978 / "Untitled (Self-Deceit)," 1978 / "Portrait of a Reputation," 1976-1977. © Woodman Family Foundation / DACS, London.
Cover of "Francesca Woodman: The Artist's Books,” MACK, London, UK, 2023.
COMING JUNE 2023: "Francesca Woodman: The Artist's Books,” MACK, London, UK, 2023
"Francesca Woodman: The Artist’s Books" collects for the first time every page of all eight of Francesca Woodman’s unique artist’s books in one comprehensive volume, including two newly discovered books which have never before been seen alongside better-known titles such as "Some Disordered Interior Geometries."
L to R: Julia Margaret Cameron. Detail of "Sadness (Ellen Terry)," 1864. Albumen silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84.XZ.186.52 / Francesca Woodman. "Polka Dots #5," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. Gelatin silver print.
L to R: Julia Margaret Cameron. Detail of "Sadness (Ellen Terry)," 1864. Albumen silver print. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84.XZ.186.52 / Francesca Woodman. "Polka Dots #5," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. Gelatin silver print.
JUST ANNOUCED: OPENING MARCH 2024 "Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In” at National Portrait Gallery, London, UK, March 21-June 30, 2024
Photographers Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. They lived a century apart – Cameron working in the UK and Sri Lanka from the 1860s, and Woodman in America and Italy from the 1970s. Both women explored portraiture beyond its ability to record appearance – using their own creativity and imagination to suggest notions of beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling.
L to R: Betty Woodman and George Woodman at Betty’s kiln, Antella, Italy, c. 1973. Woodman Family Foundation Archives / 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 Archives.
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 "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 "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 for "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.
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. Photo: 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. Photo: 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.