CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/3/2011

Francesca Woodman at SFMOMA

On Saturday, November 5, SFMOMA launches Francesca Woodman, the first retrospective of the artist's work in the United States in more than two decades, which will travel to New York's Guggenheim Museum in March of 2012.

"Untitled," from the House series, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-77. 5 x 5 1/16 in.

Woodman (1958-1981) was an artist decisively of her time, yet her photographs retain an undeniable immediacy. Thirty years after her death, they continue to inspire audiences with their dazzling ambiguities and their remarkably rich explorations of self-portraiture and the body in architectural space.

"Untitled," Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-78. 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.

The retrospective explores the complex body of work produced by the young artist until her suicide at age 22. Together with Woodman's artist's books and videos, the photographs on view form a portrait of an artist engaged with major concerns of her era — femininity and female subjectivity, the nature of photography — but devoted to a distinctive, deeply personal vision.

"Verticale," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. 4 15/16 x 5 in.

"Horizontale," Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. 5 1/8 x 4 7/8 in.

"Untitled," Providence, Rhode Island, 1975-78. 4 5/8 x 4 1/4 in.

"Untitled," Rome, 1977. 5 1/4 x 5 5/16 in.

"From Several Cloudy Days," Antella, Italy, 1977-78. 8 x 8 in.

"Untitled," New York, 1979. 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.

ARTBOOK | D.A.P. is pleased to co-publish the authoritative exhibition catalog—featuring essays by Corey Keller, Julia Bryan-Wilson and Jennifer Blessing—with SFMOMA.