,
Francis Picabia, and Beatrice Wood at the Broadway Photo Shop, New York City, 1917 Wood's involvement in the Avant Garde began with her introduction to
Marcel Duchamp. He and his friend
Henri-Pierre Roché, a man fourteen years her senior, met her in New York in 1916 while she was visiting the composer
Edgard Varèse, who was hospitalized with a broken leg. The three worked together to create
The Blind Man and subsequently
Rongwrong, magazines that were two of the earliest manifestations of the
Dada art movement in the United States. The publication was intended to defend the submission of a urinal by Duchamp who had submitted it under the name R. Mutt to the First Exhibition of the
Society of Independent Artists in April 1917. Wood wrote the oft-quoted statement that appeared in the publication as an unsigned editorial: "As for plumbing, that is absurd. The only works of art America has given are her plumbing and her bridges." Wood also submitted to the exhibition and her piece '''Un peu d'eau dans du savon''', which she had made alongside Duchamp in his studio, was accepted and was displayed. The work was the image of a nude female figure rising from her bath, but because Wood attached an actual piece of soap to what she called the "tactical position", the work drew a great deal of attention and critical reaction.
Roché, Duchamp, and Jules et Jim Though she was most involved with Roché, the two often spent time with Duchamp, creating a kind of love triangle. This was not, however, the inspiration for Roché's 1953 novel, (or the
1962 film adaptation by
François Truffaut).
Jules et Jim was based on the triangle involving Roché, German writer
Franz Hessel, and Helen Grund, who married Hessel. Roché alluded to the Wood-Roché-Duchamp triangle in his unfinished novel,
Victor. Wood herself saw little resemblance between
Jules et Jim and her relationship with Roché and Duchamp, writing in her 1985 autobiography,
I Shock Myself:
Arensbergs and their circle Wood met the art patrons
Walter and Louise Arensberg, who became her lifelong friends. From 1915 through 1920, they held regular gatherings at their apartment at 33 West 67th Street in Manhattan in which artists, writers, and poets were invited to gather, where they were given drinks, hors d'oeuvres, and engaged in intellectual discussions. Besides Duchamp, Roché, and her, the group included many other artists of the avant-garde:
Edgard Varese,
Charles Sheeler,
Joseph Stella,
Man Ray and
Francis Picabia. Wood's relationship with these artists and others associated with the avant-garde movement of the early 20th century, earned her the designation as "Mama of Dada". ==Drawings==