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Pillow Pitcher

Betty Woodman (American, 1930–2018)
American
1980
Object Place: New York, United States

Medium/Technique Earthenware
Dimensions Overall: 48.3 × 55.9 × 31.8 cm (19 × 22 × 12 1/2 in.) HDW
Credit Line Gift of Betty Woodman and Helen Williams Drutt
Accession Number1981.424
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsCeramicsPotteryEarthenware
Formal references to practical objects like pitchers and vases hint at Betty Woodman’s early career in functional pottery, but these objects are no ordinary vessels. Woodman’s experimental approach, as well as her theatrical amplification of color, form, and ornamental pattern, renders these works fanciful, exuberant, and otherworldly. She integrates global art historical traditions into aesthetically pleasing, corporeal meditations on domestic and gendered spheres. We chose to include these works because—like so many of the works in this exhibition as well as the show itself—they undo the arbitrary hierarchy between craft and fine art.

ProvenanceThe artst; to MFA, 1981, gift of the artist.
Copyright© Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.