ARTIST ROOMS: Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman, Untitled, from Eel Series, Venice, Italy 1978. ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. © Woodman Family Foundation / Artist’s Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London.

11 rooms in In the Studio

These works combine photography and performance to explore hidden parts of the self

Francesca Woodman was surrounded by art from a young age – her father was a painter and her mother a ceramicist. When she was 13 years old, Woodman’s father gave her the camera that she used to create her first works. She developed her artistic practice while at Rhode Island School of Design, during her year studying in Rome, and later in New York.

Woodman’s archive includes more than 800 black-and-white photographic prints, many of which are self-portraits. Each image is a carefully choreographed performance for the camera. Woodman regularly staged her work in empty studio spaces and abandoned buildings. She used furniture, wallpaper, shadows and her body to conceal as much as she revealed. Her work invites us to consider how we see ourselves and how we are perceived by others. Woodman wrote: ‘I show you what you do not see – the body’s inner force. You cannot see me from where I look at myself.’

Tate Modern
Natalie Bell Building Level 2 East
Room 3

Getting Here

Ongoing

Free

Francesca Woodman, Space², Providence, Rhode Island 1976

This square-format, black and white photograph is a self-portrait of the artist Francesca Woodman. Woodman, wearing a dark dress and knee length boots, occupies an empty interior space with bare white walls. A dark skirting board runs along the base of the wall where it meets the lighter grey concrete floor. The adjacent wall can be seen on the far right of the image and features a window through which light enters the room. With feet firmly planted, right in front of the left, Woodman appears to lunge forward. Her body is oriented away from the camera; her knees are bent, back hunched and arms stretched out gesturing toward the window. Although her feet are in sharp focus, her body from the ankles up is blurred as if in motion, totally obscuring Woodman’s face.

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Francesca Woodman, Untitled, from Polka Dots Series, Providence, Rhode Island 1976

This black and white square-format photograph shows the artist Francesca Woodman crouching against a dilapidated wall. The wall is heavily marked and stained, with two sections of wallpaper remnants, one darker and one lighter, to the right of the frame and a black mark above the artist’s head. There is a skirting board where the wall meets the wooden floor, which is strewn with paint chips and debris. Woodman’s body is oriented to the centre of the frame, occupying the bottom right corner of the image. Her head is in three quarter profile as she looks directly at the camera. She wears a mid-length dress with a black polka dot pattern and long sleeves. The dress is partially unzipped along the left side of her body exposing her abdomen and the bottom of her breast. Her left hand is positioned above her breast as if holding the dress open, while her right hand covers her mouth; her fingers are spread across her cheek and her thumb is in her mouth.

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Francesca Woodman, Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island 1976

In this black and white square photograph a dark, tall door – free from its frame – is balanced precariously, with one of its shorter sides against a wall and its opposite two corners resting one on the ground and the other almost touching an adjacent wall. The door creates a strong diagonal between the lower right and upper left corners of the image. Underneath the door is the photographer Francesca Woodman, only her lower half visible. She lies on her left side directly on the floor with her knees bent. The right side of her legs catches the light from a window above and to the right of the door. Her backside is in shadow, and her right foot is blurred. The space is otherwise bare, aside from bits of rubble on the wooden floorboards and a pipe that runs vertically along much of the left edge of the image.

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Francesca Woodman, Untitled, Concord, New Hampshire 1977

Francesca Woodman sits along the right edge of this black and white photograph. Her body is angled towards the camera and largely blocks the window visible behind her. Her face is in shadow. She wears dark, heavy-looking clothing and her hands are placed in her lap, where they stand out amongst the black. Her hands are further illuminated by a slant of light that directs the eye to the left, where an array of framed photographic portraits – mostly of children – are arranged on a small table. The space is otherwise bare except for what looks like a painting or other piece of art hung on the wall in the upper left corner of the image. Written in dark ink below the bottom right corner of the photograph, on the off-white border, is a squiggle that resembles the number 5.

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Francesca Woodman, Untitled, from Eel Series, Venice, Italy 1978

Just below centre of this square black and white photograph is a round white bowl containing the twisted body of an eel. The bowl sits on a speckled terrazzo floor beside the artist, who lies naked on her right side on the floor, her legs are slightly bent so that the line of her body from her knees to her left armpit roughly follows the curve of the bowl. Her left arm is extended and twisted, further framing the bowl, and terminates with her upturned hand. With her face obscured underneath her arm, only Woodman’s hair is visible above her angular shoulders. Her outstretched arm is blurred as though in movement, and, like her legs, is largely in shadow, whereas her nude back and pelvis catch the soft light that falls from outside the frame.

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Francesca Woodman, Space², Providence, Rhode Island 1976

In this black and white square-format photograph the artist stands in the centre of the image wearing a patterned, long-sleeved, knee-length dress and black knee-high boots. She occupies an otherwise empty space in the corner of a room, standing near the back wall, which is bare and painted white. A dark skirting board runs along the base of the wall where it meets the lighter grey concrete floor. The adjacent wall can be seen on the far right of the image and features a window through which light enters the room, falling over the left side of Woodman’s body, leaving her right side in shadow. Woodman stands with her feet planted hip-width apart and is bent slightly forwards towards the camera with her arms and hands out in front of her. Her face, which appears to look down towards the floor, is obscured by her hair, which is blurred as though she is shaking her head.

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Francesca Woodman, Untitled, from Angel Series, Rome, Italy 1977

The black and white photograph Untitled, from Angel Series, Rome, Italy 1977 depicts the interior of a rundown building, with a doorframe taking up a large portion of the image. Through the doorframe can be seen two figures. The figure to the left stands behind a large crumpled sheet of paper, with only their feet and a very faint impression of their body visible. The shape is blurred with movement. The second figure, on the right-hand side, appears to be crouched behind a small rectangular form (perhaps a wooden board or block), with only a hand visible from the left side. A bright light from the left illuminates the otherwise empty space.

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