American Artist Beatrice Wood
From The Mama of Dada to The Pottery Queen of Ojai, California
© Meg Nola
Multi-faceted and multi-talented ceramicist, artist, and writer Beatrice Wood spent over a century creating and inspiring until her death at age 105 in 1998.
Beatrice Wood was born in San Francisco on March 3, 1893 to a wealthy family. Not thrilled about leading the life of a well-bred society girl, Beatrice insisted on studying art. She took courses at Paris’ Academie Julian, but was bored by what she was learning and opted for the theater instead. Fluent in French and English, she studied with the Comedie Française then joined a French theater company.
Duchamp and Dada
Back in the United States, Beatrice met a fascinating pair of Frenchmen: writer and diplomat Henri-Pierre Roché, and artist Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp, already well-known for his 1913 Armory Show entry Nude Descending a Staircase, would become intimately involved with Wood, just as Wood would be intimately involved with Roché. Aside from being something of a curious love triangle that later provided the basis for director François Truffaut’s film Jules et Jim, Duchamp, Wood and Roché collectively produced The Blind Man, one of the first American Dadaist publications.
Fitting right in with the Dada movement, which essentially asserted that art should not be beautiful or noble but should instead provoke, confuse or amuse its public, Wood became part of the New York salon of Walter and Louise Arensberg. Furthermore, Duchamp encouraged Wood to exhibit work at The Society of Independent Artists 1917 show, and to learn a method of automatic sketching and painting that would help free her mind and thoughts.
Teapots and New Careers
Following a return to the theater and a few troubled romances, Wood followed the Arensbergs to their new home in Los Angeles, and she also moved to California to be near the Indian mystic teacher, Jiddu Krishnamurti. Like Duchamp, Krishnamurti would have a profound influence on Beatrice’s approach to life and creativity.
Wood found herself drawn to the craft of pottery because she had bought an unusual set of plates and wanted a matching teapot. When she couldn’t find one, she decided to make a teapot herself and in 1933 signed up for her first ceramics course at Hollywood High School. Although Wood took further training from professional ceramicists, her eventual decision to just experiment and enjoy the process would lead her to success. Inspired by many diverse elements, Wood’s works are brilliantly colored and glazed, ranging from dinnerware to bowls and vessels and offbeat figurines.
Beatrice Wood’s first solo ceramics show was in 1949. She was also invited to visit Japan and India on subsequent traveling exhibits, and in 1974 moved to a new home and studio in Ojai where she would remain for the rest of her life. The building of this artistic space was boosted by funds from the sale of a drawing done by longtime friend Marcel Duchamp.
Later Years
For decades Beatrice Wood taught classes and met with visitors at her studio, usually welcoming guests in bare feet and wearing an Indian sari, and stressing the benefits of leading a positively-minded life. Her memoirs entitled I Shock Myself were published in 1985, and a documentary about Wood called The Mama of Dada celebrated her 100th birthday year in 1993.
Beguiling to her very last days, Wood was an inspiration for the beautiful, free-spirited character of Rose in James Cameron’s Oscar-winning film Titanic. Beatrice did not watch the film, however, because she claimed that she was too old to deal with such a tragic ending.
Beatrice Wood died just after her 105th birthday on March 12, 1998. Named one of California’s Living Treasures in 1994, her former studio and home still provide a peaceful and creative oasis at The Beatrice Wood Center for The Arts in the Ojai Valley.
Sources:
- Beatrice Wood Biography: The Beatrice Wood Center for The Arts
- The Beatrice Wood Collection: Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Beatrice Wood; A 'Titanic' Figure of the Avant-Garde – New York Times, January 3, 1999
