Francesca Woodman

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American photographer Francesca Woodman (1958-1981) is best known for black-and-white pictures of herself and of female models, which still draws new fans. [1] Many of her photographs show young women nude, blurred (due to movement and long exposure times), merging with their surroundings, or with their faces obscured. Years after her suicide at the age of 22, her photographic works became the subject of much attention, including many exhibitions and books.[2][3][4][5]

Contents

[edit] Life

Francesca Woodman was born April 3, 1958, in Denver, Colorado, to well-known artists George Woodman and Betty Woodman.[4][6] Her older brother Charles later became an associate professor of electronic art.[7]

Woodman attended public school in Boulder, Colorado, between 1963 and 1971 except for second grade in Italy. She began high school in 1972 at the private Massachusetts boarding school Abbot Academy, where she began to develop her photographic skills. Abbot Academy merged with Phillips Academy in 1973; Woodman graduated from the public Boulder High School in 1975. Through 1975, she spent summers with her family in Italy.[4](p.154)[6]

Beginning in 1975, Woodman attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. She studied in Rome, Italy between 1977 and 1978 in an RISD honors program. As she spoke fluent Italian, she was able to befriend Italian intellectuals and artists.[4](pp.26-30,154) She went back to Rhode Island in late 1978 to graduate from RISD.[4](p.154)[6]

Woodman moved to New York City in 1979. After spending summer 1979 in Stanwood, Washington, she returned to New York. There, "to make a career in photography" she sent portfolios of her work to fashion photographers, but "her solicitations did not lead anywhere."[4](p.155) In summer 1980 she was an artist-in-residence at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire.[4](p.155)[6]

In late 1980 Woodman became depressed due to her work and to a broken relationship.[8] On January 19, 1981, she committed suicide by jumping out a loft window in New York.[4](p.155)[6] An acquaintance wrote, "things had been bad, there had been therapy, things had gotten better, guard had been let down."[9]

[edit] Works

[edit] Photographs, 1972-1980

Although Woodman used different cameras and film formats during her career, most of her photographs were taken with a Yashica camera-producing 2-1/4 by 2-1/4 inch square negatives-that her father had given her.[5](p.9) Woodman created at least 10,000 negatives which her parents now keep.[10] Woodman's estate, which is represented by the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, consists of over 800 prints[6] of which "only around 120 images have ever been published or exhibited."[5](p.6)

Many of Woodman's images are untitled and are known only by a location and date. The table below contains information on some of Woodman's most famous photographs. For each photograph, the location, the date, the title, and a brief description are given (since multiple images may share the same location, date, and title, and a single image may be assigned multiple locations, dates, and titles). The columns on the right contain links to up to four reproductions of the photograph found on the Web, and page numbers of reproductions in four major books.

Location and Date Title Description Links (some require registration) Page Numbers of Reproductions in Books
[2] [3] [4] [5]
Boulder, Colorado
1972-1975 Self-portrait at thirteen "…She denies her face to the camera, so that we can only see her hair, but her left hand is holding a [shutter-release] cable linked to the camera."[11] view view view view 43 75
Providence, Rhode Island
1975-1976 [untitled] Woodman "appears as Alice, in a Victorian-looking dress. She looks directly into the camera and gestures oddly with her hands and arms toward a door ajar…."[4](p.17) view view view view 63 33 54 137
1975-1976 [untitled] "She kneels on a heavily framed mirror placed flat on the floor. Her head and upper body are in motion...."[4](p.17) view view view view 34 80 69 115
1975-1976 Space2 Woodman "physically enclosed herself in a museum vitrine… We see Woodman's left breast and thigh pressed against the glass as she squats. … Her head, moreover, appears cut from her torso…."[12] view view view view 42 73 72 118
1975-1976 Space2 Blurry figure at left of frame reaching down, generally in plane of photograph. view view view view 75 120
1975-1976 Space2 Figure standing in center of frame with head blurry. view view view view 76 121
1975-1978 [untitled] Three nude women, "including Woodman, holding photographs of Woodman's face in front of their own, with a fourth portrait taped to the wall."[2](p.26) view view view view 67 51 101
1975-1978 [untitled] "...A woman apparently dead at the lip of the ocean, reflected in the mirror of another woman whose own face is displaced by that very mirror."[13] view view view view 66 49
1976 [untitled] Woodman "sits on the edge of a white chair, wearing only a pair of black shoes. She is seen from the waist down, and before her on the floor is a shadowgraph, the negative impression her prone body has made in white powder."[4](p.17) view view view view 81 85 97
1976 Horizontale "Woodman photographed herself cropped at the waist, her legs sprawling across the frame…. Bound tightly by shiny tape tied at the ankle, her flesh bulges around the ligatures, whilst with her right hand she holds a woolen glove over her sex."[14] view view view view 46 92 88 133
1976 House #3 "...A window lights a dark room. Woodman, huddled on the floor and smudged nearly out of existence, save for a poised, shod foot, fades away into the dark, decaying room."[15] view view view view 33 53 58 107
1976 House #4 "...She squeezes into a small triangular space formed by a fireplace surround which has come away from the wall, her legs splayed and her upper body blurred in movement…."[16] view view view view 33 52 59 107
1976 Then at one point I did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands "...Her nude figure crouched and bowing before a scarred wall, with a torn sheet of wallpaper covering her back like a shell, and her hands caressing the wall like a keyboard...."[4](p.16) view view 33 54 60 113
1976 March Sloan "Sloan appears as the artist’s doppelganger: reaching for a bright, sun-like orb painted on the wall of a snowcovered street…."[17] view view view 45 78 143
1976-1977 Polka Dots #5 Woodman, wearing a polka-dotted dress, bends to her right, back to a wall. view view view 47 52 102
1977 From Space2 series "…Her legs, arm and belly - which is all that we see of her - are naked. She seems to be emerging from the wall, tearing the flowered wallpaper into large, uneven pieces as she achieves embodiment."[18] view view view view 33 55 61 109
1977 I could no longer play / I could not play by instinct "…Self-portrait shows her dressed in a black brocade gown opened to reveal one breast. The upper edge of the frame cuts off her head at the chin…. From her right hand dangles a small knife… and from a cut under the line of her breast emerges a strip of photo-booth self-portraits, spattered with real or simulated blood."[4](p.17) view view view view 15 76 84 141
1977 Spring On being an angel "…She flings her arms back at the camera, so that her upturned breasts and open mouth, screaming in fright or celebration, -- present an image of the liberated psyche in flight."[3](p.125) view view view view 49 79 82 125
1977 Spring On being an angel #1 At the upper part of a mostly-dark frame, Woodman looks straight at the viewer, but her topless body is seemingly tilted up behind her head, as though she were flying upward toward the camera. view view view view 77 83 124
Italy (with more specific location if known)
Rome, 1977 September From Angel Series Blurry semi-nude figure at right, white sheets (reminiscent of wings) floating in the air behind her to our left, brightly-lit windows in the background. view view view view 101 152
Rome, 1977 September From Angel Series An arm shaking a white sheet can be seen through the middle of a door frame. view view view view 40 78 100 153
Rome, 1977–1978 From Angel Series "…She stands, with only her parted bare legs showing, with her feet planted at the ends of two roughly dug trenches, which reflect the legs…."[18] view view view view 43 103 159
Rome, 1977-1978 From Angel Series "Sloan appears as the artist’s doppelganger... as an angelic figure hanging from the doorway of a Roman palazzo (Angel Series, 1977/78)"[17] view view view view 27 174
Rome, 1977-1978 Yet another leaden sky "[She is] pressing herself against a wall, a maleficent silhouette… her face covered with a white circle, the floor ritually chequered, while a tortoise crawls forward in a corner."[4](p.10) view view view view 20 147
Rome, 1977–1978 [untitled] "...She has flattened herself, nude, against a wall, with dirt on her legs, as if she has undergone resurrection"[18] view view view 20 57 113 154
Rome, 1977–1978 [untitled] On the left, a nude woman sits on the ground in a pensive pose with her back against a wall; around the corner to the right, a calla lily is propped against the wall. view view view view 21
Rome, 1977–1978 Eel Series "…Her curved naked torso is stretched across a black-and-white patterned floor, enveloping a white bowl with a shiny skinned eel tightly coiled inside. (Woodman printed at least two versions of this image, with her body on either side of the eel.)"[17] One version One version Another version Another version 22 91 117 164, 165
Antella, 1977-1978 [untitled] A woman stands stands among small trees with a white sheet covering all but the bottom of her skirt and her lower legs. view view view view 99 170
Rome, 1978 Self-Deceit #1 A nude woman on all fours turns a corner and looks at herself in a mirror in the middle of the frame. view view view view 13 63 105 156
Stanwood, Washington
1979 Summer [untitled] "Woodman shows herself and her friend wearing old dresses whose prints are analogous to the plants in the surrounding landscape."[19] view view 41 150- 151 213
New York
1979-1980 [untitled] "Two fox furs are hanging next to each other. Behind the fox, in a corner of the room, the artist, naked, is reaching upward with her arms, her head slightly tilted to the left."[3](p.19) view view view view 87 123 187
1979-1980 [untitled] "...A string of pearls around a naked woman's waist"[3](p.19); the woman lies on a patterned cloth with her upper torso outside the frame to the right. view view view view 10 84 120 206
1979 [untitled] Two similar photographs "show the artist lying on a bench. A corset squeezes and disfigures her body. …tights [are] hanging from the wall."[3](p.20) In one version, the head is at the left of the frame; in another version, the head at the right of the frame. view view view view 8, 9 86 183
1979 [untitled] "Woodman leans upon a chipped wall with her back facing the camera, exposing a skeletonlike pattern. …she puts on an old dress decorated with horizontal bands of a skeletal leaf pattern. … Her right hand holds a big fish skeleton against her bare back…."[19] view view view view 38 61 129 194
1980 [untitled] "Sloan appears as the artist’s doppelganger… as a cascade of blond hair falling over the edge of a lion-footed bathtub."[17] view view view view 52 139 199
MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire
1980 Summer [untitled] Nude figure on a rock with arms outstretched and head blurred. view view view view 36 141 223

[edit] Videos, 1975-1978

At RISD, Woodman borrowed a video camera[5](p.27) and created videotapes related to her photographs in which she "methodically whitewashes her own naked body, for instance, or compares her torso to images of classical statuary."[20] Some of these videos were displayed at the Helsinki City Art Museum in Finland and the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York, New York in 2004[21]; the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation in Miami, Florida, in 2005[20]; and the Tate Modern in London, England, in 2007-2008[22].

[edit] Some Disordered Interior Geometries (1981 book)

Woodman created a number of artists' books, such as Portrait of a Reputation, Quaderno dei Dettati e dei Temi (Notebook of Dictations and Compositions), and Angels, Calendar Notebook;[5][14] however, the only artists' book containing Woodman's photographs that was published during her lifetime was Some Disordered Interior Geometries.[23] Released in January 1981 shortly before Woodman's death, it is 24 pages in length and is based upon selected pages from an Italian geometry exercise book. On the pages, Woodman had attached 16 photographs and had added handwriting and white correction fluid. A reproduction of the book's original spreads shows purple-pink covers, pages which vary slightly in color, and traces of pink on several pages.[5] Although the published version of the book has purple-pink covers, the interior pages are printed using only black, white, and shades of gray.[23]

Some Disordered Interior Geometries has been described as "a three-way game that plays the text and illustrations for an introduction to Euclid against Woodman's own text and diagrams, as well as the 'geometry' of her formal compositions."[5] An acquaintance of Woodman felt that it "was a very peculiar little book indeed," with "a strangely ironic distance between the soft intimacy of the bodies in the photographs and the angularity of the geometric rules that covered the pages."[9] Another author wrote that it is "a distinctively bizarre book… a seemingly deranged miasma of mathematical formulae, photographs of herself and scrawled, snaking, handwritten notes."[24]

The book is rare; of the 10 libraries in the Online Computer Library Center database that own the book and that have online catalogs showing the book, all hold the book in Special Collections or similar locations.[25]

[edit] Posthumous recognition

[edit] Exhibitions and books

Woodman had only a few exhibitions during her life, some of which have been described as "exhibitions in alternative spaces in New York and Rome."[26] There were no known group or solo exhibitions of her work between 1981 and 1985, but numerous exhibitions each year since then.[4][27][28] Among her major traveling solo exhibitions were:

  • 1992-1993: Francesca Woodman, photographische arbeiten (photographic works).[3] Traveled to Shedhalle, Zürich, Switzerland; Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany; Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden; Suomen Valokuvataiteen Museo SÄÄTIÖ, Helsinki, Finland; DAAD Galerie, Berlin, Germany; and Galleri F15 Alby, Moss, Norway.[4][27][28]
  • 1998-2002: Francesca Woodman.[4] Traveled to Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris, France; Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Belém Cultural Center, Lisbon, Portugal; The Photographers' Gallery, London, United Kingdom; Centro Cultural TeclaSala, L'Hospitalet, Barcelona, Spain; Carla Sozzani Gallery, Milan, Italy; The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Ireland; and PhotoEspana, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain.[27][28]

Besides catalogues accompanying the aforementioned exhibitions, a monograph on Woodman was published in 2006.[5]

[edit] The film The Fancy

In 2000 an experimental film The Fancy examined Woodman's life and work, "pos[ing] questions about biographical form, history and fantasy, female subjectivity, and issues of authorship and intellectual property."[29][30] Reviewers noted that the video juxtaposes "formalism, biography, and psychoanalysis"[31] and "hints at conspiracy, calling attention to the Woodman family's unwillingness to make the bulk of her body of photography available…."[32]

[edit] Popular opinion

In general, the public has been favorable towards Woodman's work. At the 1998 exhibition in Paris, many people had "strong reactions" to her "interesting" photographs.[8] Many Web pages contain language similar to "Francesca Woodman has to be my favorite photographer ever."[33] A number of people have found Woodman's individual photos (for example "Self-portrait at 13"[34]) or her photography in general[35] inspirational.

[edit] Influences

Among other factors, critics and historians have written that Woodman was influenced by the following literary genre, artistic movement, and photographers:

  • Gothic fiction. She is reported to have identified with Victorian heroines.[5](pp.20-27)
  • Surrealism.[2](p.19) For example, Woodman "followed the movement's tradition of not explaining work"[8] and demonstrated a "desire to crack the code of appearances."[4](p.18)
  • Man Ray (e.g., a series of his photographs of Meret Oppenheim, and his surrealist works).[6][14]
  • Duane Michals.[2](p.54)[6] Woodman's and Michal's work share features such as blurring, angels, and handwriting in common.[5](pp.29-30)
  • Deborah Turbeville.[5](pp.30-31,39-40)[6] Woodman had "admired" Turbeville's work.[4](p.155)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Frieze Frame: Day 2 Sales, ARTINFO, October 12, 2006, http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/22744/frieze-frame-day-2-sales/, retrieved on 2008-04-17 
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gabhart, Ann (1986). Francesca Woodman, photographic work. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley College Museum. ISBN. OCLC 13474131. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lux, Herman (1992). Photographische arbeiten = Photographic works. Zürich: Shedhalle. ISBN 3-907830-01-6. OCLC 27972302. 
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Chandès, Hervé, ed. (1998). Francesca Woodman. Paris: Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain; Zürich: Scalo. ISBN 3-931141-96-9. OCLC 40184932. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Townsend, Chris (2006). Francesca Woodman. London: Phaidon. ISBN 978-0-7148-4430-5. OCLC 76893694. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i MacMillan, Kyle. Haunting vision: Francesca Woodman explored the ephemeral realm between what is/isn't. Denver Post, 2006 December 17.
  7. ^ Video works Charles Woodman, photographs Francesca Woodman, May 6 - June 16, 2005. Notes for an exhibition at Shirley-Jones Gallery, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  8. ^ a b c Riding, Alan. Pictures, perhaps, of her despair: a young photographer's work may or may not hold clues to her suicide. New York Times, 1998 May 17.
  9. ^ a b Davison, Peter. Girl, seeming to disappear. Atlantic Monthly, 2000 May;285(5):108-111.
  10. ^ Wood, Gaby. The lady vanishes. The Observer, 1999 July 25.
  11. ^ Amore, Irene. Teenagers at the Photographer's Gallery. BTA - Telematic Bulletin of Art, 2000 July 11.
  12. ^ Webb, Sarah E. Epilogue: mark making, writing, and erasure. In: Kristen Frederickson and Sarah E. Webb, eds. Singular women: writing the artist. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
  13. ^ Phelan, Peggy. Francesca Woodman’s photography: death and the image one more time. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 2002;27(4):979–1004.
  14. ^ a b c Riches, Harriet. Disappearing Act: Francesca Woodman's Portrait of a Reputation. Oxford Art Journal 2004;27(1):95-113.
  15. ^ McQuaid, Cate. Woodman explored the nature of want. Boston Globe, 1999 February 25.
  16. ^ Davies, Sally. Francesca Woodman, Victoria Miro Gallery, London (review). Studio International, 2007 August 24.
  17. ^ a b c d Janus, Elizabeth. Francesca Woodman: some disordered interior geometries. Flash Art, 2007 March-April.
  18. ^ a b c Danto, Arthur C. Darkness visible: Francesca Woodman. The Nation 2004 November 15;279(16):36,38-40.
  19. ^ a b Liu, Jui-Ch'i. Francesca Woodman's self-images: transforming bodies in the space of femininity. Woman's Art Journal 2004 Spring-Summer;25(1):26-31.
  20. ^ a b Robinson, Walter. Maximum Miami. artnet magazine, 2005 December 12.
  21. ^ Francesca Woodman, October 12 - November 13, 2004. Marian Goodman Gallery press release.
  22. ^ Francesca Woodman (Room 8). Tate Modern, 2007.
  23. ^ a b Woodman, Francesca (1981). Some disordered interior geometries. Philadelphia: Synapse Press. OCLC 11308833. 
  24. ^ Henshall, John. Fatal attraction. New Statesman, 1999 August 23.
  25. ^ WorldCat (and linked library catalogs). Accessed 2007-09-07.
  26. ^ "Francesca Woodman reconsidered: a conversation with George Baker, Ann Daly, Nancy Davenport, Laura Larson, and Margaret Sundell". Art Journal, 2003 Summer. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  27. ^ a b c d Francesca Woodman. Marian Goodman Gallery, c.2004. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  28. ^ a b c d Francesca Woodman. Victoria Miro Gallery, c.2007. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  29. ^ Subrin, Elisabeth. The Fancy (video). Chicago: Video Data Bank (distributor), 2000. OCLC 45301667.
  30. ^ Video Data Bank page on The Fancy. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  31. ^ Greene, Rachel. Elisabeth Subrin, The Fancy (review). Bomb 2001 Fall;77:22.
  32. ^ Armour, Nicole. Disappearing acts. Film Comment 2000 Nov/Dec;36(6):55-57.
  33. ^ Lopez, Adriana Garriga. Francesca Woodman (1958-1981). Accessed 2007-09-07.
  34. ^ Moakley, Paul. Watch closely: Gigi Giannuzzi on Francesca Woodman. Photo District News, 2003 August.
  35. ^ Gryphon's Feather Studio blog entry, 2005 October 21. Accessed 2007-09-07.

[edit] For further reading

  • Mellby, Julie. Francesca Woodman. In: Warren, Lynne, editor (2006). Encyclopedia of twentieth-century photography. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-57958-393-4. OCLC 60402034.  Pages 1703-1705.
  • Buchloh, B H D, and Betsy Berne (2004). Francesca Woodman, photographs, 1975-1980. New York: Marian Goodman Gallery. ISBN 0-944219-04-7. OCLC 57449808. 
  • Oliva, Achille Bonito (2000). Francesca Woodman: Providence, Roma, New York. Roma: Castelvecchi arte. ISBN 88-8210-192-4. OCLC 45108542. 
  • Armstrong, Carol, "Francesca Woodman: A Ghost in the House of the "Woman Artist"." In: Carol Armstrong & Catherine de Zegher (eds.), Women Artists at the Millennium. The MIT Press/ October Books, 2006. ISBN 0-262-01226-X

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesca_Woodman"
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