Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Visit
  • Exhibitions & Events
  • Art & Design
  • Search

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Introduction

Betty Woodman

Il Giardino Dipinto
February 18 - May 1, 2005

Betty Woodman (American, b.1930) is one of the preeminent ceramic artists working today. Woodman's Il Giardino Dipinto, composed of sixty glazed earthenware elements, brings painting, sculpture, and architecture together in one large installation. Created in 1993, it has been exhibited at several important European venues, but never before in the United States.

Il Giardino Dipinto was inspired by a frescoed room from the ancient Roman site of Pompeii. Woodman's garden features a balustrade of flat half-vases, above which three fully volumetric vases are mounted, in addition to numerous flat vessels, handles, and shelves. The open spaces between and around the ceramic shapes are as important as the two- and three-dimensional forms themselves. All of Woodman's works start with clay that is thrown on a wheel. Some of these vessels are flattened into slabs that are then cut into various shapes. After a first firing, the ceramic pieces are glazed in vibrant colors and refired. Her objects and installations are strikingly contemporary, even though steeped in the history of art and ceramics of many cultures and periods: ancient Greece and Rome, China, the Islamic world, European decorative arts, and the work of such modern masters as Matisse and Picasso. Woodman has chosen objects from the Museum's permanent collection to enhance this exhibition of Il Giardino Dipinto.

Two related shows are on view in adjacent galleries: a selection of Woodman's drawings; and a group of one-of-a-kind, contemporary ceramics created by Woodman and twelve other artists, drawn from the Museum's collection.

Selected Objects

Italian Venetian

Kylix, 1800s
No Image Available

Doccia Porcelain Factory

Teapot, ca. 1840
No Image Available

Doccia Porcelain Factory, manufacturer

Sugar Bowl, ca. 1840
No Image Available

Doccia Porcelain Factory, manufacturer

Creamer, ca. 1840

Italo-Greek

Wide-mouthed Jar (Stamnos), 300s BCE-200s BCE

CA Painter

Storage Jar (Bail Amphora), ca. 325-300 BCE

Italo-Greek, Southern Italy

Wine Jug (Oinochoe), 350 - 300 BCE

Italian Venetian

Small amphora, 19th Century

Greek, Corinth

Oil Bottle (Alabastron), late 600s BCE

Southern Italian, Southern Italy

Wine Jug (Oinochoe), 300s BCE

Italian Venetian

Mosaic Glass Amphora, ca. 1880s–90s

Italo-Greek, Greece

Oil Bottle (Alabastron), 600s BCE

Italo-Greek, Greece

Oil Flask (Lekythos), 300s BCE

Greek, Corinth

Oil or Perfume Bottle (Aryballos), 600s BCE

Greek, Attica

Drinking cup (kylix), 399BCE-375BCE

Greek, Attica

Drinking Cup (Kylix), ca. 550-525 BCE

Greek

Antefix, 500-450 BCE

Italo-Greek, Corinth

Oil Bottle (Alabastron), 7th century BCE

Greek, Attica

Wine Jug (Oinochoe), 399-369 BCE

Italian Venetian

Ewer, ca. 1870s–90s

Southern Italian, Southern Italy

Liquid Storage Jar (Pelike), 3rd century BCE-2nd century BCE

Greek, Corinth

Oil or Perfume Bottle (Aryballos), 575 BCE-550 BCE

Greek, Attica

Miniature Oil Flask (Lekythos), late 5th century BCE

Greek, Attica

Oil Flask (Lekythos), late 6th century BCE

Greek, Attica

Oil Flask (Lekythos), 6th century BCE

Attributed to Pan Painter

Oil Flask (Lekythos), 480 BCE - 470 BCE

Italian Venetian

Vase, 19th Century

Italo-Greek, Southern Italy, Campania

Oil Flask (Lekythos)

Greek, Attica

Oil Flask (Lekythos), 5th century BCE

Greek, Attica

Wine cup (kantharos), 399-200 BCE

The Concentric Circle Group

Wine jug (oinochoe), 735 - 720 BCE

Betty Woodman

Il Giardino Dipinto, 1993

Royal Doulton

Creamer, ca. 1860

Royal Doulton

Sugar Bowl, ca. 1860
No Image Available

Royal Doulton

Tea Service, ca. 1860
No Image Available

Royal Doulton

Teapot, ca. 1860

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Betty Woodman : Il Giardino Dipinto

February 18 - May 1, 2005
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use