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. Woodman Family Foundation Archives / “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. Photo: 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. Photo: 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.
Betty Woodman in her studio, New York, 1996. Photo: Mary Ellen Mark. © Mary Ellen Mark.
Betty Woodman in her studio, New York, 1996. Photo: Mary Ellen Mark. © Mary Ellen Mark.
"Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s" featured in The New York Times, October 22, 2022
Read a review on "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s" by Jane L. Levere in The New York Times. The exhibition is currently on view through December 17 at David Kordansky Gallery, New York.
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. Photo: 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. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Phoebe d'Heurle.
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 Archives.
Betty Woodman, Italy, 1995. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
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. Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman. “Kimono Vases ‘October’,” 1990. 30 3/4 x 43 x 9 1/2 in. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Phoebe d'Heurle.
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.
L to R: All artworks Betty Woodman. "House of the South," 1994-1996. 159 x 246 x 9 1/2 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint / Images 1-2: Installation view, "Betty Woodman," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996 / Images 3: Installation view, "Betty Woodman,” Musée d’Art Contemporain, Dunkerque, France, 1997 / Images 4-5: Installation view, “Betty Woodman,” Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal, 1997 / Image 6: Installation view, “The Art of Betty Woodman,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, 2006. Photo: Eli Ping / Image 7: Installation view, "Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art," Hayward Gallery, London, England, 2022. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy of the Hayward Gallery. Images 1-6: Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Installation view, "Betty Woodman," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
Betty Woodman's "House of the South," 1994-1996 in "Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art," Hayward Gallery, October 26, 2022-January 8, 2023
Betty Woodman’s touring exhibition which began at the Stedelijk in 1996 also included another major work: “House of the South” (1994-1996). Measuring more than 13 feet high by more than 20 feet wide, this ambitious frieze evolved from Woodman’s “Balustrade Relief Vase” series begun earlier in the decade, here incorporating multiple three-dimensional vases atop ceramic shelves, surrounded by flat ceramic relief elements implying architecture, plants and other vessels.
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. Images 1, 3, 5: Installation view, "Betty Woodman," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996. Woodman Family Foundation Archives / Image 2: “Women at the Fountain,” 1992. 86 x 144 x 57 in. Collection of the Flemish Community, Belgium / Image 4: “Conversations on the Shore,” 1994. 84 x 160 x 41 in / Image 6: “Sala da Pranzo,” 1995. 25 1/4 x 32 x 10 in. All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, and paint / Image 7: Installation view, "Betty Woodman,” Musée d’Art Contemporain, Dunkerque, France, 1997. Images 4 & 6: Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Installation view, "Betty Woodman," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996. Woodman Family Foundation Archives.
"Betty Woodman," Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1996: "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York
In September of 1996, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam opened “Betty Woodman,” a major exhibition of the artist’s work and her largest in Europe at that point. The works on view included two installations—“Women at the Fountain” (1992) and “Conversations on the Shore” (1994)—in which Woodman for the first time combined free-standing vases on the floor with an array of wall-mounted vases and flat ceramic elements.
L to R: All artworks by Betty Woodman. “Balustrade Relief Vase #52,” 1992. 82 x 45 x 10 in / “Athens,” 1991. 35 1/2 x 69 x 10 in / “Seashore,” 1998. 26 x 59 x 9 in. All artworks glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer and paint. All images Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Betty Woodman. “Balustrade Relief Vase #52,” 1992. 82 x 45 x 10 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer and paint. Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery. Photo: Phoebe d’Heurle.
Opening this week! "Betty Woodman: Conversations on the Shore, Works from the 1990s," David Kordansky Gallery, New York, October 29-December 17, 2022
This major solo exhibition—the first of the artist’s work in New York in six years—brings together a group of ceramic sculptures from a critical and career-defining period in Woodman’s practice. Anchored by the installation “Conversations on the Shore” (1994)—which was last shown in the late 1990s as part of an exhibition tour which originated at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam—the works on view include a number of wall-mounted and free-standing sculptures, each engaged in a range of conversations about materials, history, function, architecture, sculpture and painting.
L to R: All artworks by George Woodman. “Three Views of Eleonora,” 2011. 18 x 24 in / “A Geometric Investigation II,” 2009. 24 x 20 in / “Variation on Vermeer,” 2010. 24 x 20 in / “Vermeer and Sleeping Eleonora,” 2010. 59 x 41 1/2 in / George Woodman with Eleonora Picheca, 2011. Courtesy Eleonora Picheca. All gelatin silver prints.
George Woodman. “Three Views of Eleonora,” 2011. 18 x 24 in. Gelatin silver print.
George Woodman's photographs of model Eleonora Picheca, 2008-2012
Thanks to Eleonora for sharing a photo of her and George laughing together (last slide). It reminded us of some of the beautiful photographs George took of her over the years when she sat for him in Italy (2008-2012).
L to R: Charles Woodman, Venice, Italy, 1966 / Charles Woodman and Francesca Woodman, Venice, Italy, 1966 / Betty Woodman and Charles Woodman, Venice, Italy, 1966.
Charles Woodman, Venice, Italy, 1966.
The Woodmans in Venice, Italy, 1966: From the Archives...
As this year’s Venice Biennale, “The Milk of Dreams,” nears its end, we’re reminded that over many decades Betty and George Woodman traveled to Venice to take in the Biennale. Their trip in 1966—pictured here—when the family spent the year in Italy, was likely Charlie and Francesca’s first of many visits there, to explore both the exhibition and this captivating city.
L to R: All artworks and artist book by Francesca Woodman. Spread from "Some Disordered Interior Geometries," 1980. Found notebook with 16 gelatin silver prints, 24 pages + cover. 9 x 6 1/2 in. Included in the exhibition: First edition published by Synapse Press, 1981. "Almost a square," Providence, Rhode Island, 1977. 4 11/16 x 4 15/16 in. Gelatin silver print / “angels,” Rome, Italy, 1977-78. 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. Gelatin silver print.
Spread from "Some Disordered Interior Geometries," 1980. Found notebook with 16 gelatin silver prints, 24 pages + cover. 9 x 6 1/2 in.
Francesca Woodman in "Books Revisited," Center for Book Arts, New York, October 7-December 10, 2022
Each of the works in this exhibition use existing books as raw material, examining ways that narrative, history and knowledge occupy space within and beyond the material and conceptual boundaries of books. Francesca Woodman created a number of artist’s books, attaching her photographs and writings into found books, often from Italy.