Beulah Woodard

Beulah Woodard
Born	(1895-11-11)November 11, 1895 Frankfort, Ohio, United States
Died
Nationality	American
Education	Polytechnic High School Otis Art Institute Los Angeles Art School University of Southern California
Known for	Sculpture
Notable work	Maudelle African Woman Bad Boy Mother and Child Fulah Kunda
Awards	Purchase award for sculpture at the All City Art Festival
Patron(s)	Miriam Matthews James Rodney Smith

Beulah Ecton Woodard (November 11, 1895 – July 13, 1955) was an African-American sculptor based in California.

Biography

Beulah Ecton was born near Frankfort, Ohio, on November 11, 1895. She developed a lifelong fascination with African culture at the age of 12 when her family was visited by an African national. Her family moved to California where she lived near Los Angeles in what would become Vernon. She attended Los Angeles Polytechnic High School, where she studied architectural drawing. She started working with clay in her early 30s, but was dissuaded from the pursuit by her family in 1926. She took courses at the Otis Art Institute, the Los Angeles Art School, and the University of Southern California. She counted Glen Lukens among her tutors. She married Brady Woodard in 1928. Woodard had her first show in February 1935 in the storefront window for the California News weekly. Her work was displayed at the Vernon Branch Library and the Los Angeles Central Library. She was the first African-American artist to exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum with her 1935 solo exhibition.

Woodard used various media to create her sculptures, including bronze, wood, terracotta, and papier-mâché. In her sculptures, she replicated the braided hairstyles, jewelry and headdresses of Ekoi, Luba, Hemba and Mangbetu peoples. Her terracotta work Maudelle, made ca. 1937–38, is a realistic portrait of African-American concert dancer Maudelle Bass Weston and was created without the use of sculptural models or drawings.

Woodard was active in her community and lectured at various educational institutions. She was a member of Our Authors Study Circle, a women's book club affiliated with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History that persuaded the office of mayor Fletcher Bowron to enact Los Angeles' first Negro History Week. In 1937 she was a key organizer of the Los Angeles Negro Art Association. In 1950 she established the Eleven Associated Artist Gallery. She placed third in the All-City Art Festival in 1953. Woodard died on July 13, 1955, prior to a German exhibition of her work.