francesca woodman - guggenheim retrospective

all photographs by francesca woodman.

it's hard to believe she killed herself at the age of 22.

the guggenheim, in conjunction with the san francisco museum of modern art, is staging the most comprehensive exhibition of woodman's work since her death in 1981, including over 120 photographs (some of which have never been seen before), artist books & recently discovered short films.

george & betty woodman are choosy about sites for their daughter's work, & they have been holding out for years for the ideal place to burnish her legacy. when a curator from the palazzo delle esposizioni in rome contacted them a dozen years ago & asked to borrow her prints to mount a show they refused. "we take very good care of work - we had several el grecos her last year," the curator said. mr. woodman replied, "well, el greco didn't have his father looking out for him."

if you are in new york, see this show before it ends on june 13th.  i wish i could. 

francesca woodman

from angel series, rome, september, 1977

house #3, providence, rhode island, 1975-1976

self portrait at thirteen, boulder, colorado, 1972 - 1975

untitled, macdowell colony, peterborough, new hampshire, 1980

self-deceit #5, rome, italy, 1978

space², providence, rhode island, 1975-1978

untitled, new york, 1979-1980

untitled, new york, 1979-1980

untitled, rome, italy, 1977-1978

untitled, 1975-1980

francesca woodman was born in 1958 in denver, colorado but lived most of her life in new york. she started taking photographs at 13 and at 22 committed suicide by jumping from her new york apartment. in those few short years, she left an amazing body of work. in 1975, she attended the rhode island school of design in providence, rhode island. she then studied in rome from 1977 to 1978. most of her work was self-portraits with long exposures that blurred and merged her naked body with the surroundings...ethereal and ghostly images that are hard to describe. they are at once so personal and yet so distant and so, so beautiful. i love her work.