Betty Woodman and George Woodman

The first round of funds have officially been sent to recipients of the inaugural WFF Housing Stability Grant for Artists (WFF HSG)!

Catch a glimpse of Betty and George Woodman's Italian studios and home and hear them speak about the importance of Italy to their work in this exhibition video, assembled from interviews in the Woodman Family Foundation archives.

Video vignettes by Charleston that highlight artworks by Betty Woodman and George Woodman included in the exhibition Betty Woodman and George Woodman. On view through September 10, 2023.

Last chance to see this unique exhibition, the first two-person presentation of Betty Woodman’s and George Woodman’s work in the UK.

Fragmented frescos glimpsed in Italian churches and Roman ruins, geometry noticed in Cosmati floor mosaics, and patterns seen on tile walls in Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Mexico and Portugal provided decades-worth of ideas for both artists, realized on the floor and on the wall.

In the 1980s, George Woodman’s rigorous pattern paintings based in geometric abstraction began to incorporate more representational motifs, including figures, flowers and architectural details. This resulted in a complex layering of forms and colors into foreground and background.

‍The exhibition at Charleston explores ways that Betty Woodman’s and George Woodman’s shared life and experiences over more than six decades found expression in the works that emerged from each artists’ studio. Art history significantly influenced them both, as can be seen in many of the works on view at Charleston as well as numerous other works in the Foundation’s collection, as shown here.

This exhibition at Charleston—the home and studio of artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant—centers on Betty and George Woodman’s prolific time in Antella, Italy, where they lived and worked together for part each year for nearly 50 years. In addition to presenting a range of artworks exploring the couple’s mutual influences and their ongoing dialogue in a variety of media, the exhibition includes archival photographs documenting their home, life and work in Antella.

“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.