December 5, 2022 Issue

I see in this week’s issue there’s a show of Betty Woodman ceramic sculptures at the David Kordansky Gallery in Manhattan: see Johanna Fateman, “Art: Betty Woodman.” Woodman is one of my favorite artists. Her vases are among the glories of modern art. I first read about her in a piece by Peter Schjeldahl, called “Decoration Myths” (The New Yorker, May 15, 2006), a review of Woodman’s retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum. He said of her, “At the age of seventy-six, she is beyond original, all the way to sui generis.” He described the colour of one of her works, a vase titled “Portugal,” as "an indigo like an organ chord, at once rumbling and clarion. It’s only décor, but what décor!” The Kordansky exhibition features an abundance of Woodman’s works. You can see many of them at davidkordanskygallery.com.

Betty Woodman, Seashore (1998)