Maudelle

By Mary Pixley, Ph. D. • Photos courtesy of Museum of Art and Archaeology

Beulah Ecton Woodard’s Maudelle is a masterpiece of realistic portraiture achieved through incisive and expressive modeling of the sitter’s facial features, braided hair and colorful earrings. Her beauty combined with the terracotta (unglazed brownish-red earthenware) medium gives the bust a potent presence. Even after firing, clay reveals traces of the artist’s touch. This sensation of the presence of the artist combined with the slight tilt of Maudelle’s head lends a forceful immediacy to the portrait.

Woodard was a black artist who specialized in sculpture in a variety of media, including terracotta, bronze, wood and papier-mâché. Born in rural Ohio, her family moved to Vernon, Calif., which was near Los Angeles, when she was an adolescent. Her fascination with African culture began at the age of 12 when a native African visited her family.

In 1926, she began experimenting in clay, but her family dissuaded her from pursuing it further. She returned to sculpture however, after her marriage to Brady Woodard in 1928. She took classes at the Los Angeles Art School, Otis Art Institute and the University of Southern California.

Woodard believed the primary purpose of art was to educate, and she wanted African-Americans to take pride in their heritage. She avoided abstraction and sought to realistically portray her subjects. Maudelle shows this straightforward approach.

In 1935, Woodard became the first black artist to show at the Los Angeles County Museum with a solo exhibition. With her increasing fame, commissions for portrait busts of notable local figures appeared. She organized the Los Angeles Negro Art Association in 1937 and lectured at several educational institutions. Sadly, Woodard died in 1955 at the height of her career before an exhibition of her work in Germany.

The model, Maudelle Bass Weston (1908-1989), was a well-known black concert dancer. Born in Early County, Ga., she later moved to California and was the first black American to study with the choreographer Lester Horton. In 1940, she danced with the American Ballet Theater, and in the 1950s she appeared with the dancer and choreographer Pearl Primus. As a model, she posed for numerous artists.

The bust of Maudelle is meant to be seen from myriad viewpoints Woodard’s portrait recalls the lifelike sculpture of the Baroque master Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) in how she captures the physical appearance, breathes life into the bust and evokes the essence of the dancer.

Mary Pixley is the associate curator of European and American art at the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

Acquired in 2007, Maudelle can be seen at the Museum of Art and Archaeology, which is located at University Avenue and South Ninth Street on the University of Missouri campus. Hours are Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday noon to 4 p.m. The museum is open to the public, ADA accessible and admission is free.