{"data":{"id":"4136","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":4136,"topgoose_id":315,"tms_id":4136,"display_name":"Francesca Woodman","sort_name":"Woodman Francesca","display_date":"1958–1981","begin_date":"1958","end_date":"1981","biography":"\u003cp\u003eAs a student at the Rhode Island School\nof Design in the late 1970s, Francesca\nWoodman developed an experimental\nphotographic practice rooted in performative\nself-portraiture. Taking her own body as\nher primary subject and favoring dilapidated\ninteriors as settings, Woodman would\nposition herself behind scraps of peeling\nwallpaper, within glass casements, or\nposed among taxidermy, alternately nude\nor clothed in vintage dresses.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfter completing her undergraduate\ndegree, Woodman moved to New York\nand sought commercial work as a fashion\nphotographer. During a residency at\nthe MacDowell Colony in July 1980, she\nbegan to experiment with outdoor settings\nand materials found in nature. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/33724\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eUntitled\n(MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New\nHampshire)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e shows the artist from the\nwaist up with one arm raised and a fox fur\ndraped over the opposite shoulder,\nher face partially blurred as it turns aside.\nJuxtaposing her own skin and hair with\nthose of plants and animals, she explores\nthe echoing forms and contrasting textures\nof her subjects. Like many of the objects\nthat comprise Woodman’s visual vocabulary—\nwhich contains a litany of references to\nSurrealism and Gothic literature—the fox\nfur is charged with erotic symbolism. In one\nof her last works, a fur is wrapped tightly\naround the artist’s neck in a more menacing\ngesture as she gazes directly into the\ncamera. Woodman committed suicide in\n1981 at the age of twenty-two. Although her\nwork did not garner much recognition during\nher lifetime, Woodman’s brief but prolific\ncareer gained much posthumous attention\nafter a 1986 exhibition of her photographs.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500084070","wikidata_id":"Q242308","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:37:11.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-09T07:03:04.449-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/4136/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/4136/exhibitions"}}}}