Beatrice Wood: Eight Vessels
442 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Turquoise/Luster "Pearl" bottle, 1992
Unique clay
6.5 x 3.25 x 3.25 in (16.5 x 8.3 x 8.3 cm)
Roberts Projects is pleased to present Eight Vessels, a selection of works by the late cultural icon and internationally renowned artist Beatrice “Beato” Wood. After discovering her love of ceramics following a trip to the Netherlands in the early 30’s, Wood focused her practice to working primarily in pottery for more than sixty years.
Over the course of her lifetime, Wood earned widespread acclaim for her experimental methods and mastery of luster glazing. The brilliance of these works mirrors Wood’s lifelong commitment to theosophical study, through which she refined her extraordinary sense of light and color as a 20th century alchemist of sorts. Inspiring a sacred reverence for spiritual knowledge, these otherworldly vessels reflect the artist’s earnest belief that “art helps man to soar to the higher consciousness, to touch the world of the spirit rather than the world of matter.”
Beatrice Wood (b.1893, San Francisco, CA, d.1998, Ojai, California) was an artist and ceramicist educated in Paris at the Acadamie Julien. Following World War I, Wood returned to the states where she was an actress, performer and founder of The Blind Man and Rongwrong magazines.
A contemporary of Marcel Duchamp during New York’s Dada movement, Beatrice Wood moved to Ojai, California in 1947 and played an integral role in developing the vibrant arts community which remains to this day. Initially known for her bowl, plate, and vessel forms that embraced unique glaze combinations and unexpected results from the kiln, Wood bridged the worlds of craft and contemporary art through her innovative exploration of form.
Wood's work is held in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C.; the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY among others.