Beth Rudin DeWoody

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Beth Rudin DeWoody
Black and white photograph of Beth Rudin DeWoody
DeWoody in 2016
Born1952 (age 71–72)
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara (BA)
Occupation(s)Arts patron and philanthropist
Spouse(s)James DeWoody (divorced)
Stephen Bosniak (engaged, died 2007)
Firooz Zahedi
Children2
Parent(s)Gladyce Largever Rudin
Lewis Rudin
RelativesJack Rudin (uncle)
Samuel Rudin (grandfather)

Beth Rudin DeWoody (born 1952) is an American art patron, collector, curator, and philanthropist.[1][2][3]

Biography[edit]

DeWoody was born to a Jewish family which controls a $5.1 billion real estate empire.[4] She is the daughter of Gladyce (née Largever)[5][6] and Lewis Rudin.[7][8] She has one brother, William Rudin.[7][9] Her parents later divorced and remarried: her father to Wilhelmina model Basha Szymanska,[10] and then Rachel (Weingarten) Rudin; and her mother to film executive David Begelman.[11]

DeWoody's interest in art started as child where she attended the Rudolf Steiner School after which she went on to earn a B.A. in anthropology and cinema studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.[2] She then worked as a production assistant on such movies as Hair (film) and Annie Hall.[2] After marrying artist James DeWoody, she began to get deeply involved in the SoHo art scene where she began to nurture young contemporary artists such as E.V. Day and Tom Sachs.[1] In 1982, she went to work for Rudin Management Company, owned by her father, where she rose to the rank of vice president.[12] At the same time, she grew her art collection and sponsored new artists[13] and served as a curator of exhibitions.[14]

In 2001 comedian Ruby Wax portrayed a satirical menopausal maniac based on DeWoody in the BBC television comedy Absolutely Fabulous, season 4, episode 6.[15]

Philanthropy[edit]

DeWoody serves as President of the Rudin Family Foundation,[2] and sits on the boards of the Whitney Museum of American Art since the mid-1980s,[1] Brooklyn Academy of Music, Creative Time, The New School University, Design Museum Holon in Israel, New Yorkers for Children, New York City Police Foundation, the Photography Steering Committee at the Norton Museum of Art located in West Palm Beach, Florida and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.[2]

Personal life[edit]

DeWoody has been married twice. Her first husband was artist James DeWoody[16] with whom she had two children: Kyle DeWoody (cofounder of Grey Area which markets artist-made wares)[17] and artist and designer, Carlton. She was the fiancée to world renowned oculoplastic surgeon Stephen Bosniak, who died suddenly in 2007 of a leukemic crisis.[18] In 2012, she remarried to photographer Firooz Zahedi.[19] She has homes in West Palm Beach, Manhattan,[20] the Hamptons,[21] Los Angeles[21] and Montecito, California.[21]

The Bunker Artspace[edit]

The Bunker Artspace,[22] located in West Palm Beach, Florida, showcases contemporary art created by well-known and emerging artists currently in the DeWoody collection. Over 10,000 pieces are currently in the collection. Tom Sachs,[23] Kehinde Wiley,[24] Phillip Estland,[25] Laura Dvorkin, John Waters,[26] and Maynard Monrow[27] are a few artists whose works DeWoody collects and displays at the Bunker.

Painter known for creating paintings of young black people placed in earlier aged settings.
Kehinde Wiley, whose work appears in Bunker Artspace.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Wall Street Journal: "A Three-House Art Showcase - Works from Warhol to Waters abound at a patron's estate" By Nancy Keates January 8, 2010
  2. ^ a b c d e Sothebys Magazine: "Spontaneous Collector" BY James Reginato] 12 January 2015
  3. ^ Gotham Magazine: "Beth Rudin DeWoody's Displays of Affection" By Stacey Goergen November 1, 2010
  4. ^ "Rudin family". Forbes.
  5. ^ New York Times: "Gladyce Largever Begelman, Author and Party Consultant" June 30, 1986
  6. ^ New York Times: "Paid Notice: Deaths LARGEVER, IDA (HAIMOWITZ)" August 8, 1997
  7. ^ a b "Lewis Rudin, Head of Real Estate Family and a Frequent City Fiscal Savior, Dies at 74". New York Times. September 21, 2001.
  8. ^ "The Real-Estate Royals. End of the Line?". New York Times. August 10, 1997.
  9. ^ Los Angeles Times: "Wife of David Begelman Dies of Leukemia" June 28, 1986
  10. ^ "Basha Szymanska Wed to Lewis Rudin". The New York Times. 4 January 1973.
  11. ^ Los Angeles Times: "Wife Of Film Exec Begelman" June 29, 1986
  12. ^ New York Times: "In Real Estate, New Faces, Old Names" By David W. Dunlap March 20, 1994
  13. ^ Palm Beach Post: "At home with the art collector" by Scott Eyman January 11, 2013
  14. ^ The New York Observer: "Collector Turned Curator: Beth Rudin DeWoody Puts on a Show" by Paul Laster July 28, 2010
  15. ^ "Did you miss us, dahlings? Crack open the Bolly for a new series of Ab". 10 April 2012.
  16. ^ Wall Street Journal: "A Three-House Art Showcase - Works from Warhol to Waters abound at a patron's estate" By Nancy Keates January 8, 2010
  17. ^ W Magazine: "Kyle DeWoody: It Trend, It Girl - An art world progeny turns e-tail entrepreneur" by Vanessa Lawrence Archived 2015-03-07 at the Wayback Machine July 15, 2013
  18. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths BOSNIAK, DR. STEPHEN".
  19. ^ New York Times: "Beth DeWoody and Firooz Zahedi" December 30, 2012
  20. ^ New York Magazine: "House Tour 2003 - Eight prominent New Yorkers walk us through their homes, from a radically renovated brownstone to an art-filled aerie" By Wendy Goodman
  21. ^ a b c "Collector, Curator, Connector - News - Fort Gansevoort".
  22. ^ "The Bunker". The Bunker. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  23. ^ "Tom Sachs". www.tomsachs.org. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  24. ^ "Kehinde Wiley Studio | Brooklyn, NY". Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  25. ^ "Phillip Estlund Studio". Phillip Estlund Studio. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  26. ^ "John Waters - Playdate, 2006". Phillips. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  27. ^ "Maynard Monrow - Artists - GAVLAK". www.gavlakgallery.com. Retrieved 2019-05-02.