Francesca Woodman - Untitled, 1979 (Self-reflection in a mirror)

A full-length self-portrait reflecting in a large wooden-framed mirror placed on the floor. This image shows a photographic work by American artist Francesca Woodman, made in New York around 1979-1980. She stands amid plaster and wood debris in a dilapidated space, leaning from the side toward a device mounted on a tripod, playing with perspectives and the mise en abyme of her own gaze through the lens.

Black-and-white digital print with a glossy lamination. Hot-press surface coating. An old mounting copy by Misomex (Film or file replication machine CTP - Computer to Plate - for offset plate imposition).

Printer SERAG. Medium resolution. Later print 2009
Format 17.3 x 15.5 cm, mounted on a wooden board 30 x 24 cm.
In very good condition.
Labels and annotations on the back.

Originating from a family of artists, Francesca Woodman studied from 1975 at the Rhode Island School of Design (Providence), then stayed in Rome from 1977 to 1978. Inspired by Baroque sculpture, she developed the theme of the angel in her photograph On Being an Angel (1977-1978).

Her first solo exhibition took place in 1978. At the end of her studies, she went to New York where she briefly worked as a model and as an assistant photographer, then participated in various group exhibitions. She befriended surrealist art collector Timothy Baum.

Her photographs maintain close ties with surrealist photography, including the play of deforming the female nude, the use of found objects, and a fondness for dilapidated interiors.

In January 1981, she published a first artist book, Some Disordered Interior Geometries. F. Woodman almost exclusively staged herself. Her body often appears as a fragment or a fleeting apparition, suggesting the transitory. Her Untitled Photographs (1975-1976) feature her playing with mirrors to multiply movement and the illusory effect of the image.