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.
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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.
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. “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 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.
L to R: Various installation views: "Pitti rivisatto,” Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy, 1997 / All artworks by George Woodman. Image 2: “Pitti, Medea, Roses,” c. 1988. 41 1/4 x 72 in / Image 4: “Untitled,” 1990. 41 1/4 x 78 in / Image 6: “Untitled,” c. 1990s. 24 x 20 in / Image 9: “Untitled,” 1990. 41 1/4 x 59 in. All gelatin silver prints.
Installation view, "Pitti rivisatto,” Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy, 1997.
George Woodman, “Pitti rivisatto," Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy, 1997: From the Archives...
Twenty-five years ago this month, George Woodman’s solo exhibition, "Pitti rivisatto," opened at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and remained on view all summer long. His layered black and white photographs take this Renaissance palace as their subject, but also as an opportunity to reflect on time and the experiences carried within each viewer.
.L to R: Artworks by George Woodman. "War Sadness Escape," 1999. 42 x 39 in. Gelatin silver print / Images 2 & 4: Installation views, “Contrapposto & Other Stories,” Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, 2014 / "Boboli: Fountain of Neptune,” 1997. 71 3/4 x and 41 1/4 in. Gelatin silver print.
George Woodman. “War Sadness Escape,” 1999. 42 x 39 in. Gelatin silver print.
George Woodman's camera obscura photographs in "Contrapposto & Other Stories," Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York, 2014: From the Archives...
Summertime is here again, and each year it has brought with it a fresh crop of summer group shows around New York City. Here’s one from 2014: George Woodman’s camera obscura photographs were included in “Contrapposto & Other Stories,” curated by Katia Rosenthal at Jeff Bailey Gallery in Chelsea.
Betty Woodman. “Portuguese Baroque,” 2013. 18 1/4 x 25 x 8 1/2 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, paint.
Betty Woodman. “Portuguese Baroque,” 2013. 18 1/4 x 25 x 8 1/2 in. Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, paint.
Betty Woodman in "Women's Work," Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, New York, May 26-September 26, 2022
Betty Woodman in “Women’s Work,” Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, New York. On view through September 26, 2022.
Francesca Woodman. “Untitled,” New York, 1979. 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. Gelatin silver print.
Francesca Woodman. “Untitled,” New York, 1979. 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. Gelatin silver print.
Francesca Woodman in "Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s," Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia, May 19-June 24, 2022
As part of an extensive international exhibition tour, “Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s” opens today at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Serbia. Organized by the Sammlung Verbund and drawing on works from their in-depth collections, the exhibition presents photography, video, film and performance by seventy-eight pioneering female artists of the 1970s, including photographs by Francesca Woodman. On view through June 24th.