What do you think?
Rate this book
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Woodman became interested in photography in her early teens. This volume, combining text by Woodman, and by those who knew her, with many of her unpublished images, shows her intense relation with the camera. In 1981, Francesca Woodman died at the age of 22. 90 duotone photos.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
1 person is currently reading
386 people want to read
About the author
Francesca Woodman
19 books52 followersFrancesca Woodman (USA, 1958 – 1981) was a photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring herself and female models. Many of her photographs show young women who are nude, who are blurred (due to movement and long exposure times), who are merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured. Her work continues to be the subject of much attention, years after she committed suicide at the age of 22.
Francesca Woodman was born April 3, 1958, in Denver, Colorado, to well-known artists George Woodman and Betty Woodman. Her older brother Charles later became an associate professor of electronic art. Her mother is Jewish and her father is from a Protestant background.
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. She spent her time in Italy in the Florentine countryside, where she lived on an old farm with her parents.
Beginning in 1975, Woodman attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. She studied in Rome between 1977 and 1978 in a RISD honors program. As she spoke fluent Italian, she was able to befriend Italian intellectuals and artists. She went back to Rhode Island in late 1978 to graduate from RISD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesc...
Francesca Woodman was born April 3, 1958, in Denver, Colorado, to well-known artists George Woodman and Betty Woodman. Her older brother Charles later became an associate professor of electronic art. Her mother is Jewish and her father is from a Protestant background.
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. She spent her time in Italy in the Florentine countryside, where she lived on an old farm with her parents.
Beginning in 1975, Woodman attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. She studied in Rome between 1977 and 1978 in a RISD honors program. As she spoke fluent Italian, she was able to befriend Italian intellectuals and artists. She went back to Rhode Island in late 1978 to graduate from RISD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francesc...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 25, 2019
“I wish I had met [Francesca] Woodman forty years ago. It would have been great to live with her for a year. She didn't save anything. She played the camera like a new guitar. She murdered herself out taking pictures.”- Richard Prince.
Coming from a family of artists, Francesca Woodman started taking her provocative and fragile photos at an early age. She always held herself apart from her family and friends and was a true loner. I had quite an emotional response, the first time I saw her captivating black and white photographs in her book. You either love her work or don't, there seems to be no middle ground. What I saw was someone who was very isolated yet was filled with mysterious feminine energy.
Her artist mother, Betty Woodman made spirited and brightly colorful ceramics sculptures. Her father, George Woodman was a painter, photographer and writer. He taught art at the University of Colorado until 1995 and they decided to move to NYC in 1980. They had two children, Charles and Francesca. Charles became a videographer artist and now teaches as well. Francesca studied photography at the Rhodes School of design. She made lyrical photographs that used her own body in beautiful ways. Francesca was obviously a genius but also extremely troubled and took her own life at twenty-two in 1981. For this book, her father picked some of her journal entries. Five stars.
Coming from a family of artists, Francesca Woodman started taking her provocative and fragile photos at an early age. She always held herself apart from her family and friends and was a true loner. I had quite an emotional response, the first time I saw her captivating black and white photographs in her book. You either love her work or don't, there seems to be no middle ground. What I saw was someone who was very isolated yet was filled with mysterious feminine energy.
Her artist mother, Betty Woodman made spirited and brightly colorful ceramics sculptures. Her father, George Woodman was a painter, photographer and writer. He taught art at the University of Colorado until 1995 and they decided to move to NYC in 1980. They had two children, Charles and Francesca. Charles became a videographer artist and now teaches as well. Francesca studied photography at the Rhodes School of design. She made lyrical photographs that used her own body in beautiful ways. Francesca was obviously a genius but also extremely troubled and took her own life at twenty-two in 1981. For this book, her father picked some of her journal entries. Five stars.
July 18, 2012
It took me a while to read this because I had to keep it under the bed so I wouldn't see the cover while I was going to sleep and have bad dreams.
April 2, 2013
My interest was piqued by the fascinating documentary, The Woodmans, which focuses on both Woodman's work and that of her artistic parents. Clearly, she had a wonderful eye and intuitive sense of imagery, but being cut off so early in her career some of the photos are a bit juevenile.
It's hard to separate her sad end from the imagery that is common to adolescence - death, the female body splayed out as an angel, the sadness of empty rooms, etc. What I find ironic about trying to view her work as foreshadowing of her suicide is that (as is often the case with depression) she wasn't working during her last months. The creative impulse, even when it's a dark creative impulse, is one that is about life and energy, not about destruction.
It's hard to separate her sad end from the imagery that is common to adolescence - death, the female body splayed out as an angel, the sadness of empty rooms, etc. What I find ironic about trying to view her work as foreshadowing of her suicide is that (as is often the case with depression) she wasn't working during her last months. The creative impulse, even when it's a dark creative impulse, is one that is about life and energy, not about destruction.
March 31, 2018
I was a little skeptical of Woodman’s work at first, but I think that I’m beginning to understand her more now. There were some photographs which moved me, and the body of work in this collection is interesting.
September 24, 2007
this is one of my favorite collections of photographs in print, somehow, although i usually retract from this sort of subject matter in photography.
April 17, 2007
I was curious to see what her photography was like, but I didn't much care for it.
June 20, 2007
One of my favorite photo books ever, and probably the most expensive book I own!
June 21, 2007
haunted.
October 11, 2011
A fabulous book on the photography of this talented artist. What can you say the quality is superb the content amazing .
March 8, 2016
Fascinating photographs.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews