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Thumbnail-size images of copyrighted artworks are displayed under fair use, in accordance with guidelines recommended by the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts, published by the College Art Association in February 2015.

Ambiguous (Vase & Shadow)

Betty Woodman (American, 1930–2018)
American
1987
Object Place: Probably New York, or Italy

Medium/Technique Glazed earthenware
Dimensions Height x width x depth: 71.1 x 50.8 x 30.5 cm (28 x 20 x 12 in.)
Credit Line The Daphne Farago Collection
Accession Number2017.4841
ClassificationsCeramics
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.These works undo the arbitrary hierarchy between craft and fine art.

DescriptionVessel and wall-mounted shadow
ProvenanceBy 1993, sold by the artist to Donna Schneier Fine Arts; February 23, 1993, sold by Donna Schneier Fine Arts to Daphne Farago (b. 1924 - d. 2017), Little Compton, RI; 2017, bequest of Daphne Farago to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 14, 2017)
Copyright© Woodman Family Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.