Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Tranformations and Disappearances: The Presence of the Artist in the Work of Francesca Woodman

2013; College Art Association; Volume: 2013; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

2325-5307

Michael Rose,

Art, Politics, and Modernism

The photos that Francesca Woodman created during her short life (1958-1981) are at once striking and subtle, often provocative but also playful. There is a constant character of exploration that defines her work. Among all of the themes and concepts Woodman plays with in the work, there are two shared traits that seem particularly pre-eminent: the dual themes of transformation and disappearance. These themes are often explored through images of her body’s relationship with intensely textured interior spaces, the surfaces of which are deeply reminiscent of those so often photographed by her professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Aaron Siskind. These traits are present throughout much of her work, specifically in the works she created of herself. This fact has caused many viewers to question the relationship between her often hauntingly styled photos and her eventual suicide that took place in New York in 1981. By investigating a small selection of Woodman’s self-depictions, it is possible to re-contextualize the themes of transformation and disappearance as central to the development of feminist art of the 1970s, rather than exclusively indicative of Woodman’s much-discussed psychological state. Woodman was a prodigious maker of self-depictions. These images, which were created regularly throughout her career, give the viewer a multifaceted depiction of the figure Woodman seeks to portray. Created nearly exclusively in black and white and often bearing evidence of the photographic process, these images are haunting in the simultaneous likeness and unlikeness they create of Woodman. Though Woodman is physically present within these works, the images break from the historical tradition of “self-portraiture” in a variety of ways. There is no visual claim that these images are depicting the artist as one may find in earlier prototypes where artists often portrayed themselves with the tools of their trade. For instance, in the self-portrait of seventeenth century Dutch painter Judith Leyster, the artist makes a concerted effort to depict herself in the role of an artist. Leyster leans back jauntily in her chair and holds out the instrument of her craft, her paintbrush. A canvas representing her productivity is seen in front of her as she engages the viewer with her gaze. This conceit is not relevant for Woodman who, working in the mid-twentieth century, would have seen the art-making process quite differently from her seventeenth century counterpart. Woodman, as a student, is said to have used herself as the model for her works mainly due to the convenience of the practice.1 This theory suggests that the content of the works would have been identical had Woodman been able to easily procure models aside from herself. In this way, she projects onto herself and performs herself what she would have asked of other people, acting as an orchestrator of movement and performance. The concept that Woodman was not interested in portraying herself personally in these images is supported by the basic definition of what an artist is that was instilled in Woodman at an early age by her parents. Woodman was born into a family of artists. Her mother Betty was a ceramist and her father George was a painter. Her parents were focused on their work and in a recent documentary, The Woodmans, directed by Scott Willis, they stressed the seriousness they conveyed to their children about their profession.2 In that same documentary, the couple also points out that they always promoted the idea that artist intention should be removed from the art-making process. This is significant because Woodman would likely have absorbed that idea from a young age. Woodman’s up-