Beatrice Wood

American, (1893–1998)

Wood was born in San Francisco, California. She attended the University of Southern California and the Academy Julian in Giverny, France. She studied theater and dance in Paris in 1916. While there, she met the French-American artist and theorist Marcel Duchamp, who became an influence on her life. She studied ceramics with Glen Lukens, a leading artist and teacher in California, and then with Gertrude and Otto Natzler, who had settled in Los Angeles after leaving their native Vienna. Wood traveled extensively and was especially influenced by the culture of India. She maintained a home and studio in Ojai, California, where she continued to work until her death at age 105.