Beatrice Wood (1893–1998) was an American ceramicist, credited for her involvement in introducing the Avant-Garde movement to the United States in the early 20th century. Often referred to as the “Mama of Dada”, she had a close relationship with Marcel Duchamp and Henri-Pierre Roche, and together in 1917 they founded The Blind Man and Rongwrong magazines, early Dadaist art publications. Though she worked primarily in ceramics, she was also known for her drawings, which were often naive depictions of figures in different poses, exploring themes of life and love.
Much later in her career, Wood produced this silk scarf with our Studio during her residency at FWM. Entitled “Perfect Lovers,” it depicts abstracted figures comingled in various erotic combinations and explores the tension where the two figures become indivisible. For the scarf’s border, Wood employed linework that may at first appear decorative and non-representational but a closer inspection reveals hundreds more of these intertwined lovers wrapping all four sides.
