Beatrice Wood
168787
225975639
2008-07-16T08:05:56Z
71.129.54.109
[[Image:Blue Lustre Double Necked Bottle with Braided Decoration by --Beatrice Wood--, c. 1969, --Smithsonian American Art Museum--.jpg|thumb|right|297px|Blue lustre double necked bottle with braided decoration by Beatrice Wood, c. 1969, [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]]]]
[[Image:Beatrice Wood, Untitled (Two Women) (1990) Earthenware with Glazes, .jpg|thumb|right|400px|Untitled (Two Women) earthenware with glazes by Beatrice Wood, 1990]]
'''Beatrice Wood''' ([[March 3]], [[1893]] – [[March 12]], [[1998]]) was an [[United States|American]] artist and [[studio potter]], who late in life was dubbed the "Mama of Dada," and served as a partial inspiration for the character of [[Rose DeWitt Bukater]] in [[James Cameron]]'s 1997 film, ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]''. Beatrice Wood died nine days after her 105th birthday in [[Ojai, California]].
==Childhood==
Beatrice Wood was born in [[San Francisco, California]], the daughter of wealthy socialites. Despite her parents' strong opposition, Wood insisted on pursuing a career in the arts. Eventually her parents agreed to let her study painting and because she was fluent in [[French language|French]], they sent her to the prestigious [[Académie Julian]] in [[Paris, France|Paris]].
The onset of [[World War I]] forced Wood to return to the United States. She soon became an actress with a French Repertory Company in [[New York City]] and would spend a number of years on the stage <ref>[http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=65521 Internet Broadway Database: Beatrice Wood Credits on Broadway<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
==[[Dada]] and the [[Avant-garde]]==
During this time period, Wood was introduced to [[Marcel Duchamp]], who in turn introduced her to her first great love interest, [[Henri-Pierre Roché]], a man twice her age. She worked with Duchamp and Roché in the 1910s to create ''The Blind Man,'' a magazine that was one of the earliest manifestations of the [[Dada]] art movement in New York City.
===Roché, Duchamp, and ''[[Jules et Jim]]''===
Though she was involved with Roché, the two would often spend time with Duchamp, creating a love triangle. Biographies of Wood traditionally link Roché's novel (and the consequent film), ''[[Jules et Jim]]'', with the relationship between Duchamp, Wood, and himself <ref>[http://helfenfinearts.com/biogs/woodFset.html Spencer Jon Helfen Fine Arts<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, <ref>[http://www.potters.org/subject12843.htm clayart - thread 'beatrice wood - new york times obit.'<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Other sources link their triangle to Roché's unfinished novel, ''Victor'', and ''Jules et Jim'' with the triangle between Roché, Franz Hessel and Helen Hessel <ref>[http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/23/julesjim.html Bright Lights Film Journal | Jules and Jim<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Beatrice Wood commented on this topic in her 1985 autobiography, ''I Shock Myself'':
:''Roché lived in Paris with his wife Denise, and had by now written Jules et Jim...Because the story concerns two young men who are close friends and a woman who loves them both, people have wondered how much was based on Roché, Marcel, and me. I cannot say what memories or episodes inspired Roché, but the characters bear only passing resemblance to those of us in real life!''
===The Arensbergs and their circle===
Wood was next introduced to the art patrons, [[Walter Arensberg |Walter and Louise Arensberg]] (who would become her lifelong friends). They held regular gatherings in which artists, writers, and poets were invited for intellectual discussion. Besides herself, Duchamp, and Roché, the group included [[Man Ray]] and [[Francis Picabia]]. Beatrice Wood's relationship with them and others associated with the avant-garde movement of the early 20th century, earned her the designation "Mama of Dada."
Beatrice did not stay at the academy because it was too academic for her
==[[Ojai, California]]==
In her early forties, after a succession of failed artistic careers (most notably as an actress) and an annulled marriage, Beatrice moved back to [[Los Angeles]], [[California]].
It was at this time that she bought a pair of baroque plates with a luster glaze. She wanted to find a matching teapot to go along with it, but was unsuccessful. Deciding to make the teapot herself, she enrolled in a ceramic class at [[Hollywood High School]]. This hobby turned into a passion that would last over the next sixty years, as she developed a unique form of luster-glaze technique that proved successful.
In 1947, Beatrice felt that her career was established enough for her to build a home. She settled in [[Ojai, California]] in 1948 to be near the Indian philosopher [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]] and became a lifelong member of the [[Theosophical Society Adyar|Theosophical Society - Adyar]], events which would greatly influence her artistic philosophies. She also taught and lived at the [[Happy Valley School]], which is now known as [[Besant Hill School]].
Ever the comedienne, when asked the secret to her incredible longevity, she would respond, "I owe it all to chocolate and young men."
In 1994, the [[Smithsonian Institution]] named Wood an "Esteemed American Artist."
Her home still rests on the campus of [[Besant Hill School]] and can be visited by appointment as it is still an active art gallery called The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts.
The secondary market in Beatrice Wood art still thrives and the largest collection can be viewed at [[BEATRICEWOODART.COM]] where major pieces such as "Good Morning America", Madame Lola's Pleasure Palace, Chez Fifi, Waiting for Kennedy, and the last figurative work completed by Wood in 1997, "Men With Their Wives" can be viewed.
==Works==
''Books'':
* Clark, Garth, "Gilded Vessel: The Lustrous Life and Art of Beatrice Wood". Guild Publishing, 2001.
* Wallace, Marlene, "Playing Chess With the Heart: Beatrice Wood at 100". San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1994.
* Wood, Beatrice, "I Shock Myself: The Autobiography of Beatrice Wood". 1985. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2006.
==Films inspired by Wood==
*''[[Beatrice Wood: Mama of Dada]]'': This documentary was released as a 16 mm film in [[Los Angeles]], [[California]] on March 3, 1993, to coincide with Wood's 100th birthday.
*''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]'': Wood found a new audience when she was 104. She served as a partial inspiration for the 101-year-old character of "Rose" in [[James Cameron]]'s epic 1997 film, ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]''. In ''Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay'', Cameron notes that [[Bill Paxton]]'s wife loaned a copy of ''I Shock Myself'' to him. He realized upon reading it that "the first chapter describes almost literally the character I was already writing for 'Old Rose'...When I met her she was charming, creative and devastatingly funny...Of course, the film's Rose is only a refraction of Beatrice, combined with many fictional elements" (overleaf for page 7). According to her obituary in the ''[[Ojai Valley News]],'' six days before her death, Wood awarded the ''Fifth Annual Beatrice Wood Film Award'' to Cameron <ref>http://www.laweekly.com/film/2959/beatrice-and-hubert/</ref>.
==Obituaries==
*[http://www.craftsreport.com/may98/beatricewood.html Beatrice Wood Dies at age 105] - ''Craftsreport''
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980319/ai_n14147323/print Obituary: Beatrice Wood] - ''[[The Independent]]''
*[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1001486 NPR: Beatrice Wood Obit] - ''[[National Public Radio]]''
*MacNeill, Bonnie. "Mama of Dada Beatrice Wood dies at 105." ''The Ojai Valley News.'' (Issue 44, Friday, March 13, 1998, p. A-1).
==References==
*Cameron, James. ''Titanic: James Cameron's Illustrated Screenplay.'' New York, Harper: 1998.
*Laskas, Jeanne Marie. "Beatrice Wood: Breaking the Mold". In ''We Remember: Women Born at the Turn of the Century Tell the Stories of Their Lives in Words and Pictures.'' New York: William Morrow and Co., 1999.
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
== See Also ==
[[Rosalind Rajagopal]]
[[Besant Hill School]]
[http://www.beatricewood.com/ Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts]
[http://www.beatricewoodart.com/
''Biographies'':
*[http://www.beatricewoodart.com/biography.html Biography from beatricewoodart.com]
*[http://www.beatricewood.com/biography.html Biography from Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts]
*[http://www.philamuseum.org/pma_archives/ead.php?c=BWC&p=hn Biography from the Philadelphia Museum of Art]
==Articles==
* ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n1_v86/ai_20148112/print Letter to Beatrice Wood]''
* ''[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_n9_v81/ai_14410639/print Beatrice Wood at Garth Clark - ceramics exhibition; New York, New York]''
*[http://www.aaa.si.edu/oralhist/wood76.htm 1976 interview]
*[http://tarrow-carduner.net/Dissatisfaction-DT-PartC.htm "Women's Dissatisfaction--Can It Be Beautiful?" A discussion of Beatrice Wood as woman and artist by Devorah Tarrow]
[[Category:1893 births|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:1998 deaths|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:American centenarians|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:American painters|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:American potters|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:Dada|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:Western mystics|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[Category:Women artists|Wood, Beatrice]]
[[fr:Beatrice Wood]]
[[nl:Beatrice Wood]]