Beatrice Wood • American (1893-1998)
Luster Vessel C: 1970 • Earthenware with Luster Glaze 6” x 6.5” x 6.5”
Beatrice Wood never set foot on the Titanic, but she painted with Monet in his garden at Giverny; tie-dyed costumes for Isadora Duncan; performed in plays by Sarah Bernhardt; fell in love many times, including famed author Henri-Pierre Roche, Dada artist Marcel Duchamp and India’s leading scientist. Her life with Duchamp and Roche served as the basis for the well-known novel and Francois Truffaut movie, Jules and Jim.
For 105 years, Beatrice Wood danced across Europe, America and India. In her 90’s she took up writing and soon published books ranging from cookbooks to her autobiography, “I Shock Myself.” When James Cameron was writing Titanic, he read that book, met Beatrice Wood and knew he’d found someone who made every day count. He’d found Rose.
Beatrice Wood crammed many lives into her 38,360 days on earth. She was a New York debutante who left her parents elegant home with $15 in her pocket hoping to become an avant-garde artist. She was an art and theatre student in Paris, then New York when the start of World War I forced her to leave the continent. She published two magazines of Dada art with two lovers, leading to her moniker “Mother of Dada.” It was complicated.
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