Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/francesca-woodman-10512" aria-label="More by Francesca Woodman" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Francesca Woodman</a>
Rome Italy
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
adults
arts and entertainment
clothing and personal items
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
individuals: male
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objects
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Woodman, Francesca
work and occupations
<p>This black and white square-format portrait depicts the artist Francesca Woodman and her boyfriend, Benjamin P. Moore. The couple sit in front of a wall in shadow, with only their head and shoulders in the frame. Moore is positioned to the left of the composition, leaving a narrow empty space at the side of the image, while Woodman is positioned slightly behind his shoulder to the right with her left shoulder cut out of the frame. Moore wears a sleeveless white vest and his dark hair is slicked back. The artist’s hair is loosely piled on her head and she wears a patterned shirt, or possibly dress, with a V-shaped neckline. Both Woodman’s and Moore’s faces are bathed in light on their right, and obscured by dark shadow on the left. The image has a rough white border which is particularly distressed along the bottom of the image.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
14 March 2009 – 8 November 2009
2009-11-08
12 March 2009 – 8 November 2009
2009-11-08
2009-03-12
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh, UK)
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/
2009-03-14
ARTIST ROOMS Francesca Woodman
Collection based display
11 June 2011 – 23 October 2011
2011-10-23
11 June 2011 – 23 October 2011
2011-10-23
2011-06-11
Ferens Art Gallery (Hull, UK)
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/museumcollections
2011-06-11
ARTIST ROOMS 2011: Francesca Woodman
Loan-out
5 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
5 April 2014 – 13 July 2014
2014-07-13
2014-04-05
Bodelwyddan Castle (Bodelwyddan, UK)
2014-04-05
ARTIST ROOMS 2014: Francesca Woodman
Loan-out
15 November 2014 – 25 February 2015
2015-02-25
15 November 2014 – 25 February 2015
2015-02-25
2014-11-15
Oriel Davies Gallery (Newtown, UK)
2014-11-15
ARTIST ROOMS 2014: Francesca Woodman
Loan-out
Untitled, Rome, Italy
image: 143 × 158 mm
frame: 458 × 402 × 20 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<div class="text">
<p>This black and white square-format portrait depicts the artist Francesca Woodman and her boyfriend, Benjamin P. Moore. The couple sit in front of a wall in shadow, with only their head and shoulders in the frame. Moore is positioned to the left of the composition, leaving a narrow empty space at the side of the image, while Woodman is positioned slightly behind his shoulder to the right with her left shoulder cut out of the frame. Moore wears a sleeveless white vest and his dark hair is slicked back. The artist’s hair is loosely piled on her head and she wears a patterned shirt, or possibly dress, with a V-shaped neckline. Both Woodman’s and Moore’s faces are bathed in light on their right, and obscured by dark shadow on the left. The image has a rough white border which is particularly distressed along the bottom of the image.</p>
<p>This photograph was taken in Rome between 1977 and 1978. Woodman was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) between 1975 and 1977 before moving to Rome with the school’s honours programme, which she completed in 1978. Moore was her boyfriend at the time and was also a student at RISD. The couple began dating in 1975 and were together for approximately five years. Woodman’s classmate and close friend Sloan Rankin has said that Moore was the photographer’s ‘first caring love’ (<i>The Woodmans</i>,<i> </i>dir. by Scott Willis, 2010). The artist photographed Moore on numerous occasions and she sometimes included herself in the image, as here. In this image the couple’s casual attire and bodily proximity suggest intimacy, while the dark shadows create a sense of foreboding. Other images of Moore in the ARTIST ROOMS collection include an annotated photograph of Moore and Woodman (<i>Untitled</i> c.1976, Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-me-and-benjamin-in-may-ar00360" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00360</span></a>) and a full-length solo portrait of Moore (<i>Untitled </i>1975–80, Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-untitled-ar00363" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00363</span></a>). All of the images of Moore have an intimate quality, suggesting Woodman’s willingness to make her personal life the subject of her art. He also featured in some of the films Woodman recorded, but never exhibited, including <i>Spitting Image</i> c.1976–8 (private collection).</p>
<p>Woodman had been to Italy on numerous occasions with her family as a child. Her parents owned a house in Tuscany, which they visited during summer holidays. Despite Woodman’s familiarity with the country, writer Isabella Pedicini has noted that during the artist’s time in Italy as a student ‘the symbolist tendencies that marked her photographs from Boulder and Providence gave way to a photography which was expertly organised in space and composed by a number of small elements framed in perspective’ (Pedicini 2012, p.59<b>).</b> This organisation is evident in the close framing and considered use of light and shadow in the composition of this portrait. In other photographs taken at this time (see, for example, Untitled, from Eel Series, Venice, Italy 1978 Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/woodman-untitled-from-eel-series-venice-italy-ar00348" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00348</span></a>) the artist’s carefully considered use of light and composition is evident in her bold pose, and use of cropping and chiaroscuro. Author and feminist scholar Peggy Phelan has commented that Woodman’s compositional style ‘repeatedly expresses her dual desire to inhabit and to escape the limit of the visible’ (Phelan 2002, p.993). This duality is evident in the contrast between the artist’s direct gaze toward the camera and her position at the edge of the frame with her face obscured by the light. She seems to retreat into the background as Moore occupies the foreground. In the majority of Woodman’s solo self-portraits, or images with friends, she experiments with more extreme obstructions, from mirrors to wallpaper and the blurring resulting from movement in front of the lens.</p>
<p>This image, along with the seventeen other works by Woodman in the ARTIST ROOMS collection, originally belonged to Benjamin P. Moore. Moore sold the photographs to Jefferey Frankel, an international macroeconomist. As a friend of Anthony d’Offay, Frankel approached the collector who acquired the images, allowing them subsequently to become part of the ARTIST ROOMS collection.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Peggy Phelan, ‘Francesca Woodman’s Photography: Death and the Image One More Time’, <i>Signs</i>,<i> </i>vol.27, no.4, Summer 2002, pp.979–1004.<br/>Isabella Pedicini, <i>Francesca Woodman: The Roman Years: Between Skin and Film, </i>Rome 2012.</p>
<p>Susan Mc Ateer<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>December 2013</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
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Summary
2019-07-01T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Woodman’s collection of photographs in ARTIST ROOMS originally belonged to her boyfriend, Benjamin P Moore, who appears alongside her in this double portrait. Woodman met Moore while she was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he now has an established reputation as a glass designer in America. This photograph was taken while Woodman was an exchange student in Rome between 1977 and 1978. This year of study abroad was an important period of self-recognition for the artist and she produced a substantial body of work there. She found an environment rich in classicism and decay and took most of her photographs in an abandoned factory, to creating a surreal, timeless atmosphere. Woodman uses strong lighting in this particular work to produce an intense psychological drama.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults arts and entertainment clothing and personal items emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities individuals: male man named individuals objects people photographer photographic portraits self-portraits underwear vest woman Woodman, Francesca work and occupations