2 February - 27 March 2000

An important retrospective, the first in Italy, dedicated to the American artist and photographer Francesca Woodman (Denver 1958 - New York 1981), who, over the course of her brief yet intensely creative artistic career, invented a whole new way of observing reality through the lens of a camera.

Her own naked body posed next to a few highly evocative objects and shot with the automatic release inside homes or abandoned spaces; other bodies, naked or clothed, communing with nature; portraits of friends, fragments of environments: these are the subjects of her photographs, for which she exclusively used natural light. Her photos reflect reality in the form of narratives that are heightened by imaginary touches.

All the prints on display were original. The first photos were taken in Boulder, Colorado, from 1972 to 1976; the next date from 1975 to 1978 and were taken in Providence, where the artist attended the Rhode Island School of Design. The images from 1977 and 1978 were taken in Rome, where Francesca Woodman found herself in the middle of the city's emerging artistic and cultural scene. The exhibition continued with photographs taken in New York between 1979 and 1981, and others that date from brief summer stays in Stanwood in 1979 and Peterborough in 1981. A slideshow, prepared by the American photographer Charles Duncan, documented the six books the artist created using old notebooks or musical scores, only one of which was published in 1981.

Exhibition curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.
Mounted by Lucio Turchetta.
Catalogue with essays by Achille Bonito Oliva, Giuseppe Casetti, Cecilia Casorati, Rosella Caruso, and George Woodman; published by Castelvecchi Arte, Rome 2000.

2 February - 27 March 2000

An important retrospective, the first in Italy, dedicated to the American artist and photographer Francesca Woodman (Denver 1958 - New York 1981), who, over the course of her brief yet intensely creative artistic career, invented a whole new way of observing reality through the lens of a camera.

Her own naked body posed next to a few highly evocative objects and shot with the automatic release inside homes or abandoned spaces; other bodies, naked or clothed, communing with nature; portraits of friends, fragments of environments: these are the subjects of her photographs, for which she exclusively used natural light. Her photos reflect reality in the form of narratives that are heightened by imaginary touches.

All the prints on display were original. The first photos were taken in Boulder, Colorado, from 1972 to 1976; the next date from 1975 to 1978 and were taken in Providence, where the artist attended the Rhode Island School of Design. The images from 1977 and 1978 were taken in Rome, where Francesca Woodman found herself in the middle of the city's emerging artistic and cultural scene. The exhibition continued with photographs taken in New York between 1979 and 1981, and others that date from brief summer stays in Stanwood in 1979 and Peterborough in 1981. A slideshow, prepared by the American photographer Charles Duncan, documented the six books the artist created using old notebooks or musical scores, only one of which was published in 1981.

Exhibition curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.
Mounted by Lucio Turchetta.
Catalogue with essays by Achille Bonito Oliva, Giuseppe Casetti, Cecilia Casorati, Rosella Caruso, and George Woodman; published by Castelvecchi Arte, Rome 2000.