Beatrice Wood, born San Francisco, CA 1893-died Ojai, CA 1998 Search this
Medium:
glazed earthenware
Dimensions:
9 x 5 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. (22.9 x 15.0 x 15.0 cm)
Type:
Decorative Arts-Ceramic
Crafts
Date:
ca. 1969
Luce Center Label:
The spouts of this bottle look like two human figures, holding hands across the round body that separates them. Beatrice Wood included relief sculptures of fish, one of her favorite animals to sculpt, and a lion’s head on the jar, which has been glazed in blue and purple luster. Wood began to decorate the surfaces of her pots with relief sculptures after encountering pots finished in this style during a trip to India in 1962.
Luce Object Quote:
“Beatrice Wood combines her colors like a painter, makes them vibrate like a musician. They have strength even while iridescent and transparent. They have rhythm and the luster both of jewels and of human eyes. Water poured from one of her jars would taste like wine.” Anais Nin quoted in Artforum, January 1965
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dorothy and George Saxe
