Famed ceramic artist and “Mama of Dada,” Beatrice Wood was born on this day in 1893. She shared a special relationship with Marcel Duchamp, whom along with Henri-Pierre Roche, founded The Blind Man Magazine in 1916 (central images). The magazine’s second issue was devoted to the defense of R.Mutt’s Fountain, Duchamp’s controversial artwork submission of an ordinary men’s urinal with the signature R.Mutt inscribed on its surface. Many deemed it “vulgar” and just a “plain piece of plumbing,” to which Wood responded: 

“Now Mr. Mutt’s fountain is not immoral, that is absurd, no more than a bath tub is immoral… As for plumbing, that is absurd. The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges.”

Duchamp and Wood continued to remain close throughout the years. In 1955, he designed the cover for Wood’s exhibition catalogue Beatrice Wood: Ceramics at The American Gallery, Los Angeles (pictured top: the catalogue and Duchamp’s correspondence describing his particulars for the design).

We also see a letter from Duchamp to Wood in 1963 (pictured bottom right), in which Duchamp invites her to visit him and his wife in Pasadena at the Green Hotel, during the time of his historic retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum (Norton Simon).

These objects are just a few of the materials in the exhibition A Marcel Duchamp Collection, on view at L.A. Louver through May 14, 2016. Visit our website to learn more. 

Picture of Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia and Beatrice Wood (1917) via Wikipedia