Internationally acclaimed artist Beatrice Wood, known professionally as Beato and the “Mama of Da Da,” died earlier this month. Wood was known for her ceramic sculptures, drawings and lithographs. Wood wrote more than 6 books and a play and studied painting at the French Academie Julien, acting with a member of the Theatre Francais and dancing with Klyustin, Pavlova’s matre de ballet.
“Titanic” director James Cameron patterned the older “Rose” character after Wood, who is seen creating pots at a wheel. Wood became interested in ceramics when she decided to make a teapot to match a set of teacups from Holland. She set up her own studio in Los Angeles in 1937.
Wood is known as the “Mama of Da Da” for the major role she played in establishing arts’ post-WWI, Da Da movement, and her relationships with French novelist Henri Pierre Roche and artist Marcele DuChamp.
Wood’s autobiography, I Shock Myself, was published in 1985.
