Francesca Woodman (Hardcover)

~ Chris Townsend (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Most Comprehensive Monograph on the Legendary American Photographer Ever Published.

Francesca Woodman created her first photograph at thirteen and took her own life at age 22. She left behind a hauntingly beautiful legacy. Flailing, groveling, jumping, and hiding--often dissolving into a blur before the camera--she used her body as an actor in a mysterious drama. In less than a decade Woodman created a body of work that has secured her position as one of the most original American artists of the 1970s, and the first-ever child prodigy of photography.

FRANCESCA WOODMAN by Chris Townsend, is the most comprehensive book on the legendary artist ever published, as well as the only monograph in print. Woodman has become one of the most talked about, studied and influential photographers of the late twentieth century. She brought an understanding of Baroque painting, Modernist art and contemporary post-minimalist practice to her evocative, sensual self-portraits. This survey features 250 images--many of which have never been exhibited or published before--as well as unpublished extracts from her journals selected by her father George Woodman to provide a glimpse into her private world. New research by art historian, Chris Townsend, examines the influences of gothic literature, surrealism, feminism and post-minimalist art on Woodman's photographs.

Woodman played complex games of hide-and-seek with her camera. Constructing enigmas that trap our gaze, her work conjures the precarious moment between adolescence and adulthood, between presence and absence. She depicts herself seemingly fading into a flat plane, merging with the wall under the peeling wallpaper, dissolving into the floor, or flattening herself behind shards of glass. Fascinated by transformation and the permeability of seemingly fixed boundaries, Woodman constantly compares the fragility of her own body with the physical environment around her. Her images read as a diary--sharing both her imagination and her body.

Art critic Arthur Danto said of Woodman's photographs, "It is impossible to view her work without being drawn into the vast questions it raises about life, art and the meaning and embodiment of sex. . . . Her work unfolds over time like the oeuvre of a brilliant and precocious poet, like Keats or Rimbaud, whose voice is present in every line."

The release of personal records by the Woodman family along with personal memories of the artist by Betsy Berne, one of her closest friends, adds a powerful dimension to this extraordinary monograph. FRANCESCA WOODMAN provides a fascinating window into the world of this exceptional talent.

Phaidon would like to thank Betty and George Woodman, her parents, for their help and close involvement at all stages of this publication.

About the Author

Chris Townsend is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media Arts, Royal Holloway, and University of London. His recent publications include The Art of Bill Viola and The Art of Rachel Whiteread (2004). Forthcoming books include A World at Random: The Art of Boyle Family (2005) and New Art from London (2006). Curated exhibitions include `Rapture: Art's Seduction by Fashion, 1970-2000' (Barbican Art Gallery, 2002) and `The Ugly Show' (Leeds Metropolitan University Art Gallery, 1998). He lives in London.

George Woodman, Francesca Woodman's father, is a photographer and writer. He lives in New York.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714844306
• ISBN-13: 978-0714844305
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 10.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #533,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting , November 9, 2006

By	Jessica "Jessica" - See all my reviews

I really love this book it's so nice to finally have a book of Francesca Woodmans work I can actually afford. Francesca Woodman was a prodigy genius and her pictures go way beyond photography she did something very special. I wish though that they published more work that I haven't seen if there are 800 pictures why do they keep reproducing the same ones? Also seeing her journal entries inside the book was amazing that would be a book right there her journals. Overall the book is beautiful the pictures are printed in very good quality.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Art Criticism - what is it good for?, March 19, 2007

By	Fraelen (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

I, personally, like Francesca Woodman's photographs and they are well represented in this book. It's a lovely, big, heavy, think-paged, glossy, pretty book with a giant gold F and W on the front and back cover (under the paper sleeve). I found the commentary at the back by her father and Betsy Berne to be informative, interesting, and helpful and enjoyed looking over the selection of her journal entries they included. It makes it much easier to read her writing when you know that she self-consciously chose an affected style. Actually, I thought Betsy Bernes' three page letter was better written than most of the book and certainly more believable. But I do have a tendency to raise a questioning eye-brow at a lot of the sorts of things that art critics seem to find so very important, obvious, or interesting. For instance, I've never really been on board with this whole obsession of turning every object or juxtaposition into a metaphor for the camera. It's practically Freudian, the connections are so stretched sometimes. Yes, I actually read the 70 page essay on her work and, to give it credit, it was thorough and pretty well organized with lots of examples in the margins of her contemporaries' work and that of her influences. I did learn a lot about her life and the context in which she grew up and made her art and about how very much she may have intended to say with each piece. But I do say 'may have' quite purposefully. Read the text with a grain of salt and you can get a lot out of this book. And, of course, the pictures make it worth it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quintessential photo book on Woodman, September 28, 2008

By	K. Slamen "creative imagination specialist" (Montreal, Quebec. Canada) - See all my reviews

I have over 100 books on photographers and photography, but this one is my most treasured. The images are exquisitely reproduced, and arranged in such a thoughtful manner, and the accompanying text/outline/stories add a human element to the tragic story of such a brilliant and gifted photographer.