Beulah Ecton Woodard

Untitled (Bust of a Mangbetu Woman), cast bronze with black patina, 1937, Invaluable. 

In the middle of the 20th century, a host of Black women in America were sculpting the figure: Selma Burke, Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Elizabeth Prophet, Augusta Savage, and Beulah Woodard. Unfortunately, Woodard is more lesser known and an image of her has yet to be found in research.

Untitled (Bust of a Mangbetu Woman), cast bronze with black patina, 1937, Invaluable.

Born on November 11, 1895 near Frankfurt, Ohio, Beulah Ecton Woodard (1895-1955) was a prominent sculptor noted for her intricate busts and photographs of African masks. After moving to California, she studied drawing in high school. Due to her discouraging family, Woodard was persuaded away from her love of art and worked as a maid for many years. At age 33, she then married and began studying at the Otis Art Institute and University of Southern California whilst also keeping a studio at home. At 40, she had her first show in a storefront and later on at various libraries. She built a solid following, her work being collected by Miriam Matthews, Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, and other prominent patrons.

Maudelle, ceramic bust, 1937, Petrucci Family Foundation: Collection of African-American Art.

Bronze, wood, terra-cotta, and papier-mâché were Woodard’s choice tools. There is a limited body of work left behind, but those still in view gathered evidence of a talented, late-blooming woman who took on the classical traditions head on. Her tender and carefully rendered portraits show an impressive skill, especially for one who had to suppress her creativity. Interest in Africa and African masks and jewelry are intricately weaved into some sculptures. Pride and joy are relevant, the use of natural material like terra-cotta reinforcing the glory of brown skin.

Maudelle photographed by Dutch artist Johan Hagemeyer. On several websites, photos of Maudelle are used as “photos of Beulah Woodard,” further proving the harm of inaccurate internet research. 

One of Woodard’s frequent subjects was Antiguan dancer Maudelle Bass Weston (1908 -June 11, 1989)— a favorite model of Diego Rivera and Edward Weston. Bass Weston was a well-known figure dismantling the ways the Black woman’s body and presence were viewed. Her name was included in the artwork titles (especially Woodard’s sculptures) unlike earlier times when Black bodies were merely ornamented props. In two separate busts (both titled Maudelle) that concentrate wholly on Bass Weston’s facial structure and hair, Woodard has captured a quiet, dignified appearance that is so unlike the sexualized works by Rivera and Weston. Woodard unveils the softer, subdued side of Bass Weston’s personality, her undeniable grace and beauty poised to take a queenly throne.

Maudelle, terra-cotta (1937-1938) and painted glaze (2007), University of Missouri’s Museum of Art and Archaeology.

Maudelle, another angle. 

Woodard was the first African American to have a solo exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). A stout champion of art in her community, she also vouched for Black artists as a member of the Los Angeles Negro Art Association and created the short lived Eleven Associated Artist Gallery— a cooperative.

African Woman, terra-cotta, 1937-1938, Swann Auctions Catalogue. 

African Woman, terra-cotta, 1937-1938, Swann Auctions Catalogue. 

At the time of her death on July 13, 1955, she was only 59 and burgeoning out into the world, her work planned for a series of shows in Germany.