Beatrice Wood: the Alchemist & California-Cult Artist Turning Mothballs into Gold

Beatrice Wood was one of the rare, female artists more successful in her later years than ever before in her life. Best known for her magnificent, luster glaze ceramics and sometimes provocative personality, Wood was a key member of New York’s Dada movement during the early 20th century and continued to create a reputation for herself as an artist after moving to California in the 1920s. While her connection to the Dada movement and to influential figures like Marcel Duchamp and collectors Louise and Walter Arensberg have been explored at length, there hasn’t been much discussion about the artist with regard to her interest and study of Theosophy.