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>
Providence Rhode Island
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
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
decay
domestic
door
emotions, concepts and ideas
features
female
formal qualities
interior - non-specific
interiors
lying down
named individuals
natural phenomena
nudes
people
photographic
portraits
self-portraits
shadow
universal concepts
window
woman
Woodman, Francesca
<p>In this black and white square photograph a dark, tall door – free from its frame – is balanced precariously, with one of its shorter sides against a wall and its opposite two corners resting one on the ground and the other almost touching an adjacent wall. The door creates a strong diagonal between the lower right and upper left corners of the image. Underneath the door is the photographer Francesca Woodman, only her lower half visible. She lies on her left side directly on the floor with her knees bent. The right side of her legs catches the light from a window above and to the right of the door. Her backside is in shadow, and her right foot is blurred. The space is otherwise bare, aside from bits of rubble on the wooden floorboards and a pipe that runs vertically along much of the left edge 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
18 February 2016 – 12 June 2016
2016-06-12
18 February 2016 – 12 June 2016
2016-06-12
2016-02-18
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2016-02-18
Performing for the Camera
Exhibition
Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island
image: 140 × 140 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>In this black and white square photograph a dark, tall door – free from its frame – is balanced precariously, with one of its shorter sides against a wall and its opposite two corners resting one on the ground and the other almost touching an adjacent wall. The door creates a strong diagonal between the lower right and upper left corners of the image. Underneath the door is the photographer Francesca Woodman, only her lower half visible. She lies on her left side directly on the floor with her knees bent. The right side of her legs catches the light from a window above and to the right of the door. Her backside is in shadow, and her right foot is blurred. The space is otherwise bare, aside from bits of rubble on the wooden floorboards and a pipe that runs vertically along much of the left edge of the image.</p>
<p>The photograph was created while Woodman was a student at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, USA from 1975 to 1978. At RISD Woodman was a fiercely dedicated and independent student who devoted herself exhaustively to her work. She set up a studio and living space in the shabby rooms of a former dry goods store, and frequently worked in nearby abandoned houses and other rundown spaces. This work features Woodman prominently as its subject. When asked by her roommate and close friend Sloan Rankin why she was so often the subject of her own photographs, Woodman replied: ‘It’s a matter of convenience, I’m always available’ (quoted in Rankin 1998, p.35). This photograph is also notably small-scale. Woodman’s square photographs rarely measure more than 150 mm in height or width.</p>
<p>Cultural theorist Mieke Bal argues that Woodman’s photographs are not snapshots because the artist was not interested in fixing moments in time. Rather, Woodman was interested in ‘un-fixing’ the subjects of her photographs, typically herself (for another example see 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-providence-rhode-island-ar00352" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00352</span></a>, quoted in Bal 2009, p.136). As Bal points out, Woodman is almost always physically present in her photographs but never quite visible or ‘fixed’ (see Bal 2009, p.132). In this case, the door bisects Woodman’s body and renders its lower half almost inhuman in appearance upon first glance. Woodman’s right foot is the most illuminated part of her visible body, but it is blurred by motion.</p>
<p>In contrast to the spare and shabby room, Woodman’s blurred foot animates her and reminds viewers that, although she is not recognisable, the depicted subject is also the photograph’s living creator. But the blur also serves, as Bal has said of Woodman’s photographs in general, to obscure Woodman even as she exposes herself (Bal 2009, p.137). Although her lower body is nude, Woodman has hidden any identifying body features from view and made the visible part of her body anonymous. A line of light leads down the side of her leg to a fully-illuminated foot, but even this is obscured by movement. To borrow Bal’s words, this work represents a still image that will not stand still (Bal 2009, p.138).</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Sloan Rankin, ‘Peach Mumble – Ideas Cooking’, in Hervé Chandès (ed.), <i>Francesca Woodman</i>, New York 1998, pp.33–7.<br/>Mieke Bal, ‘Marcel &amp; Me: Woodman through Proust’, in Isabel Tejeda (ed.), <i>Francesca Woodman: Retrospective</i>, exhibition catalogue, Espacio AV, Murcia 2009, pp.114–41.<br/>Cory Keller (ed.), <i>Francesca Woodman</i>, exhibition catalogue, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco 2012, reproduced p.19.</p>
<p>John White<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>November 2014</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2016-03-21T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Woodman has carefully balanced a door at an unusual angle across the room, and hidden herself underneath creating an unsettling sense of claustrophobia. This image is from a series of photographs using doors as props, made while a student in New York. Alone and naked, she seems vulnerable, as she undertakes a voyage of personal self-exploration. The unusually placed items and desolate setting in this photograph create a mystical, transcendental quality in the tradition of Surrealism. The precariously placed, heavy object bears an uncanny resemblance to Richard Serra’s sculpture 'Strike (for Roberta and Rudy)' (1969-71).</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults architecture decay domestic door emotions, concepts and ideas features female formal qualities interior - non-specific interiors lying down named individuals natural phenomena nudes people photographic portraits self-portraits shadow universal concepts window woman Woodman, Francesca