Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial 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>
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund 2008
actions: postures and motions
adults
domestic
emotions, concepts and ideas
fine arts and music
formal qualities
instrument, piano
interior - non-specific
interiors
man
natural phenomena
objects
people
photographic
shadow
standing
<p>The subject of this portrait was Woodman’s boyfriend, Benjamin P Moore, who once owned the photographs in the ARTIST ROOMS Collection. Woodman met Moore while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he now has an established reputation as a glass designer in America. He can also be seen, alongside Woodman, in the photograph <span>Untitled, Rome, Italy</span> 1977–8. Woodman’s photographs explore issues of gender and self, looking at the representation of the body in relation to its surroundings. These are not conventional portraits, as her sitters appear partially hidden or concealed by slow exposures that blur them into a surreal, ghostly presence. This underlying fragility is emphasised by the small and intimate format of the photographs.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2019</em></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
21 March 2024 – 16 June 2024
2024-06-16
21 March 2024 – 16 June 2024
2024-06-16
2024-03-21
National Portrait Gallery (London, UK)
http://www.npg.org.uk
2024-03-21
Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In
Loan-out
Untitled
image: 152 × 152 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 Art Fund 2008
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>Untitled </i>1975–80 is a black and white photograph taken by Francesca Woodman of her boyfriend at the time, Benjamin P. Moore. The interior scene is framed by an open door to the left. On the far wall is a small cupboard with open doors and, below it, a small upright piano with its front section missing. The lid of the piano is left ajar and its manufacturer name is just visible. Moore stands to the right of the cupboard and piano, towards the back of the room. He wears a long black coat and turns his head to look directly at the camera, with his body facing to the right. Natural light bathes the back of the scene leaving him and the interior in dark shadow.</p>
<p>Woodman probably took this photograph while at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which she attended between 1975 and 1978, or in the following two years. She often took her photographs during this period in abandoned factories and houses surrounding the school, and she set up her own living space and studio in an old dry goods store. Art historian Harriet Riches notes how these backdrops mirrored Woodman’s artistic practice: ‘not the spotless clinical space of the photographic studio, Woodman's own studio was a messy domestic space that also housed the detritus of her life’ (Riches 2011, p.73). Such a description is exemplified by photographs such as <i>Untitled </i>1975–80. With the cupboard and piano that take up a large part of this portrait, it is evident that evocative interiors and props were an important part of the way that Woodman worked.</p>
<p>In this portrait the way in which the light falls gives Moore a concrete outline while obscuring his facial features, giving him a spectral quality. Woodman uses the contrast of light and dark both stylistically and conceptually, through her near exclusive black and white photography and use of natural light and shade. In this image, the use of black and white, coupled with Moore’s somewhat old-fashioned attire, renders the time period in which the image was taken indefinable. Art historian Abigail Solomon-Godeau notes that ‘reference to mass culture or to advertising is altogether absent’ in Woodman’s work, so that her photographs sit outside a fixed time period (Solomon-Godeau 1991, p.242). This informs the overall uncanny timelessness of the photograph: Moore embodies the character of a gothic villain or a Victorian gentleman more than that of a student of the 1970s.</p>
<p>Woodman had a particular interest in fashion photography, and intended to pursue a career in it after graduation, before her untimely death at the age of twenty-two. She was particularly fascinated by the works of American fashion photographer Deborah Turbeville (born 1932), as well as indulging a hobby for collecting items of vintage clothing and various props from thrift stores. Throughout her work the notion of being dressed (in her typical Victorian style) and undressed is consistently at play. These interests can be seen to actively inform works such as <i>Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island</i> 1975–8 (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-ar00359" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00359</span></a>) and <i>Untitled, from Polka Dots Series, Providence, Rhode Island </i>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-untitled-from-polka-dots-series-providence-rhode-island-ar00351" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00351</span></a>). This influence is also visible in this photograph, as the heavy black coat becomes the most distinguishable element of Moore's figure, as well as his stance, as he looks directly at the camera as if looking out from the pages of a fashion magazine.</p>
<p>The eighteen photographs in the ARTIST ROOMS collection were originally owned by Moore, who is also pictured alongside Woodman in<i> Untitled, Rome, Italy </i>1977–8 (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-rome-italy-ar00353" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00353</span></a>).</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b> <br/>Abigail Solomon-Godeau, <i>Photography at the Dock</i>, Minneapolis 1991.<br/>Catherine de Zergher (ed.), <i>Inside the Visible: An Elliptical Traverse of 20th Century Art In, Of and From the Feminine</i>, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1996.<br/>Harriet Riches, ‘Girlish Games: Playfulness and “Drawingness” in the work of Francesca Woodman and Lucey Gunning’, in Catherine Grant and Lori Waxman (eds.), <i>Girls! Girls! Girls! in Contemporary Art</i>, Bristol 2011, pp.63–86.</p>
<p>Hayley Gault<br/>University of Edinburgh<br/>November 2015</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2019-07-09T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>The subject of this portrait was Woodman’s boyfriend, Benjamin P Moore, who once owned the photographs in the ARTIST ROOMS Collection. Woodman met Moore while a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, and he now has an established reputation as a glass designer in America. He can also be seen, alongside Woodman, in the photograph 'Italy, May 1977 – August 1978'. Woodman’s photographs explore issues of gender and self, looking at the representation of the body in relation to its surroundings. These are not conventional portraits, as her sitters appear partially hidden or concealed by slow exposures that blur them into a surreal, ghostly presence. This underlying fragility is emphasised by the small and intimate format of the photographs.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults domestic emotions, concepts and ideas fine arts and music formal qualities instrument, piano interior - non-specific interiors man natural phenomena objects people photographic shadow standing