Beatrice Wood

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Beatrice Wood was an American ceramicist and writer who was influential in the Avant Garde movement. She was a life member of the Theosophical Society in America. A photo essay of her life appears on the website of the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.

Artistic career

Theosophical influence in her art

In 1928 Wood moved to California. Her first exposure to ceramics was an adult education course at Hollywood High School, which she had taken to learn how to make a teapot to match some luster-glaze plates she had bought in Holland. A deepening interest in ceramics led her to study with renowned potters Otto and Gertrud Natzler.

Miss Wood wrote an article for The Star called "Color, Light, and Art" reflecting her interest in the color theory expressed by Theosophists Annie Besant and Charles Webster Leadbeater in their book Thought Forms: "as a person evolves, he desires fresher, clearer colors, for they are a reflection on the physical plane of what is taking place on the inner planes. Leadbeater explains in Man Visible and Invisible (1903) that the colors in the aura of a highly developed man are translucent, pure, and radiant, and those of the lowly developed man are muddy, dark and 'dirty' in hue."

"Translucent, pure, and radiant" are words which also perfectly describe Wood’s luster-glazed vessels. A luster glaze is a fired, glass-like surface on a clay body, where metallic salts on the glaze’s surface give it an iridescent appearance. Wood achieved these brilliant luster glazes through reduction firing which requires the absorption of oxygen from both clay and glaze...

Just as the Theosophical texts advocate for a sort of spiritual cleansing through purification of color, Wood’s life-long study of techniques in luster glazing reflect a similar dedication to a mastery of brilliance. Her luster-glazed vessels in their radiant hues reflecting not only gold but bright purples, pinks, and blues upon closer examination, evoke a sense of alchemical perfection, demanding a kind of reverence only reserved for the sacred and otherworldly. Wood’s extraordinary sense of light and color become even more magnificent as her work is handled and examined— changing colors as the light moves and refracts from the vessel in different ways.

Theosophical Society involvement

Beatrice Wood was admitted as a member of the American Theosophical Society on December 1, 1923, sponsored by Russell Lloyd Jones and Leila E. Jones. She was initially a national member-at-large, joined the Service Lodge in New York on November 17, 1924. She was probably considered to be a charter member, as the charter was officially issued on the 15th. The charter was signed by 47 people, not all of whom were named, and within a few years it had grown to over 70 people. She participated in this very active lodge during the 1920s, serving as sponsor for several new members. In 1926 she would have heard Fenn Germer, an associate of Thomas Wilfred and his "color organ," lecturing on color theory. She herself lectured on "The Life of Madame Blavatsky."

The New York area Theosophists were active socially, as well. Young Dora van Gelder stayed with Beatrice Wood, as well as visiting the homes of the Sellon family and of Robert and Sara Logan early in 1927 in New York and New Jersey, before marrying Fritz Kunz on May 16th. Intermittently Miss Wood lived in the Old Hollywood neighborhood in which the Krotona Theosophical colony had been prominent during 1911-1923 before it moved to Ojai in 1924. Her next-door neighbors were L. W. Rogers, his wife Maysie, and sons Stanley and Grayson, who lived at 2033 N. Argyle Avenue.

During the 1940s, Miss Wood served as a member of the selection committee for the Olcott Foundation Awards.

Jiddu Krishnamurti was a friend, and he influenced her work.

She maintained her Theosophical Society membership until her death in 1998, when she was the "seniormost" member after 73 years of participation.

Plays on Theosophical subjects

Miss Wood wrote plays that she intended to be performed by Theosophical Society lodges. In 1931 The Theosophical Messenger reported:

"Beatrice Wood sends word that she has just completed a one-act play dealing with life after death that is suitable for Lodge production. It has four characters and is not difficult to set. She will be glad to send it to any Lodge interested. Perhaps this play would be valuable as a means of spreading theosophical truth.

The following year,

The Theosophical Press will undertake the publication of two Theosophical plays by Beatrice Wood, The Door That Did Not Close and Corridor E, if a sufficient number of orders are guaranteed in advance. The Door That Did Not Close has already been produced with genuine success by several lodges and the second new play comes highly recommended.

Writings

I Shock Myself: The Autobiography of Beatrice Wood was published in 1985 by Chronicle Books, San Francisco.

The Union Index of Theosophical Periodicals lists 22 articles written by Beatrice Wood and four about her.

Later years

Miss Wood continued her work with ceramics until 1997. When she was 100 years old, she delivered a commencement address at the Besant Hill School of Happy Valley. Two years before her death, Miss Wood was recognized at the annual convention as "the seniormost Fellow of the Theosophical Society in America in years of age in this incarnation." She was then 103 years old. In a series of resolutions, the artist was acclaimed a "one of our most faithful members" and "a world-famous ceramicist, artist, chocolate connoisseur, and inspirer of young men, as well as a greatly admired, honored, and loved member of the Theosphical Society who throughout her life has exemplified high ideals of art and living."

She died in Ojai on March 12, 1998, nine days after her 105th birthday. She famously attributed her longevity to "young men and chocolate."

Cover of biography

Legacy

The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is located in Ojai, California. In addition to museum space dedicated to Beatrice Wood, the center offers workshops in various arts, musical performances, and exhibitions.

The center has hosted such Theosophical events as a 3-day workshop with lectures by Richard Flores and Kevin Wallace on April 12-14, 2013:

This three-day workshop is based upon Thought Forms, the 1901 book by Annie Besant and Charles Leadbeater that inspired Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee and countless other artists. Participants will explore the ideas that pre-date and inspired abstract painting through insights into the processes of seeing and recording impressions in form and color.

Museum collections

These are some of the museum with major collections of Miss Wood's work. For a more complete list, see Garth Clark, The Gilded Vessel.

American Craft Museum, New York

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Bruce Jewitt Collection at CalPolyPomona.

Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Whitney Museum of American Art. Drawings.

Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Drawings.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Awards and prizes

1961 – Goodwill Ambassador from the United States to India

1983 – Symposium Award of the Institute for Ceramic History

1984 – Living Treasure of California

1987 – Fellow of American Craft Council Women's Art Caucus

1987 – National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Award

1988 – Distinguished Service Award, Arizona State University

1992 – Gold Medal for Highest Achievement in Craftsmanship, American Craft Council

1994 – Governor's Award for the Arts, State of California

1998 – Named "Esteemed American Artist” by the Smithsonian Institute

Characterizations in film

In his 1962 film Jules et Jim, François Truffaut depicted a love triangle based on a semi-autobiographical novel written by Henri-Pierre Roché in 1953. The woman in the triangle was inspired by Beatrice Wood, who had been in such a relationship with Roché and Marcel Duchamp whilte working in New York on Dada magazines.

The character of Rose DeWitt Bukater, "Old Rose," in the film Titanic was modeled after Beatrice Wood after director James Cameron read Wood's autobiography.

She couldn’t go to the premiere of Titanic so James Cameron and Gloria Stuart brought the video to her. She refused to watch it. She said it was too late in life to be sad.

Additional resources

Archival records

• Beatrice Wood papers, 1894-1998, bulk 1930-1990 at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute. Includes diaries; oral histories; art works and glaze books; correspondence; personal business records; photographs; and writings, such as drafts of her plays.
• Beatrice Wood Collection at Philadelphia Museum of Art. Correspondence of Conrad C. M. Arensberg, mostly 1978-2001.

Books

• Clark, Garth. Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Life and Art of Beatrice Wood. Guild Publishing, 2001.
• Naumann, Francis M., ed. Beatrice Wood: A Centennial Tribute. New York: American Craft Museum, 1997.
• Wallace, Marlene. 'Playing Chess With the Heart: Beatrice Wood at 100. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.

Video

• Excerpts from Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada, a 1993 documentary film written and directed by Tom Neff.
• Life Is an Art from Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.
• Beatrice Wood Permanent Collection Tour by Kevin Wallace. Posted on YouTube on July 21, 2020. "A short video sharing a selection of ceramic works by Beatrice Wood, from the permanent collection of the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, California."
• Beatrice Wood by David Naranjo. Posted on YouTube on September 30, 2009. Interview with the artist, showing her glazing her ceramics.
• Beatrice Wood at 97 Excerpt by Carole Ewing McCartney. Posted on YouTube on December 8, 2013.
• Beatrice Wood 1993 Commencement Address Excerpt at Besant Hill School of Happy Valley.
• Beatrice Wood Remembers: Dada, Duchamp. Love & Tango. A Conversation with Beatrice Wood directed and written by Steven Watson. Interview conducted October, 1987 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Posted on YouTube on August 10, 2019.
• Elaine Lipworth's Interview with artist Beatrice Wood for her 100th Birthday. 1993. Posted by Elain Lipworth on her YouTube channel on December 23, 2020.

Websites

• Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.
• [=6279 Smithsonian Institute website] offers a gallery of 32 of Wood's works - ceramics, drawings, and watercolors.