Artist Critique

Beatrice Wood was an American artist involved in pottery. Many people say it was hard to separate her life experiences from her work. She was born in San Francisco to a wealthy family, and later moved to New York. She traveled around Europe for the exposure to art and museums. She enrolled at the Academy Julian in Giverny, France. She thought the education was tediously academic and ran away from her chaperone and hid in an attic room. Her mother heard and came to find her. She brought her back to Paris, which switched her interest to theatre. Her mother enrolled in private acting and dance lessons. She performed on stage with leading stars of the time, including Sarah Bernhardt. With the onset of World War I, her parents moved back to New York. Her mother tried to discourage her plans for a career on stage. Beatrice joined the French National Repertory Theatre. Beatrice became unhappy so she left. Her mother hired a detective who found that she was sharing an apartment with the theatre manager. She loved acting but claimed she was beginning to be too concerned with her looks and the way she moved and looked. In 1961, she attended an exhibition of her work where her pottery stood in stark contrast to the accepted approach to ceramics. 

This specific piece is my favorite because of the colors and form. The clay was smoothed and glazed perfectly. The colors show harmony between the shades and tints of each.