Images L to R: Francesca Woodman in her dorm room at Abbot Academy, Andover, MA, c. 1972-73. Academic and Advisor Reports from Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Abbot Academy, 1972-1973.
Francesca Woodman in her dorm room at Abbot Academy, Andover, MA, c. 1972-73.
Francesca Woodman at Abbott Academy, 1972-1973: From the Archives…
From 1972-1973, Francesca Woodman studied at Abbot Academy, one of the few high schools in the US at the time to offer a concentrated art program. It was there that Francesca met Wendy Snyder MacNeil, her earliest, highly influential teacher who introduced her to the creative and expressive capabilities of photography.
Images from L to R: The Woodman family at home in Boulder, Colorado, circa 1963 / Sirotkin House, designed by Tician Papachristou, 1959, Boulder, Colorado, courtesy M. Gerwing Architects / Images 3-7: Interior and exterior views of the Woodman family home in the Sirotkin House, circa 1960s / Baskets in Betty’s studio before one of her twice-yearly sales.
The Woodman family at home in Boulder, Colorado, circa 1963.
The Woodmans in Boulder, Colorado, 1960s: From the Archives…
In 1960, after returning to Boulder, Colorado, from their first year together in Italy, the Woodman family moved into the Sirotkin House. One of more than a dozen modernist homes in Boulder by architect Tician Papachristou, the house was designed for the original owner as a pair with the house next door.
All images related to George Woodman, The Rochester Carpet, 1984, Bevier Gallery, RIT, Rochester, NY. L to R: Installation view with the artist / Installation view / Students sorting patterns before painting / Pages from the artist's instructions / article in the Times-Union, Rochester, NY, December 6, 1984.
Installation view, George Woodman, The Rochester Carpet, 1984, Bevier Gallery, RIT, Rochester, NY.
George Woodman’s paper tile installation at Rochester Institute of Technology, December 1984: From the Archives…
George Woodman’s The Rochester Carpet was a sprawling, patterned mosaic temporarily covering the floor of the Bevier Gallery at Rochester Institute of Technology in December of 1984. This site-specific work was just one of the artist’s ambitious and encompassing tile projects, extending his earlier practice as an abstract painter by employing complex systems of pattern and color across public spaces.
Images left to right: Betty Woodman working at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, France, c. 1987 / Installation views, Betty Woodman: L’allegra vitalità delle porcellane, Palazzo Pitti, Museo delle Porcelane, Florence, Italy, 2010 / Betty Woodman. Puccini, 1989. 6 x 13.2 x 8.274 in. Glazed porcelain / Betty Woodman. Beccafumi, 2002. 8.9 x 7.9 x 8.2 in. Glazed porcelain. © Woodman Family Foundation.
Betty Woodman working at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, France, c. 1987.
Betty Woodman's Sèvres porcelain, 1987: From the Archives…
In 1987, Betty Woodman began her work at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, as an artist invited by the French Ministry of Culture. Over the course of more than twenty years, she made a series of sculptural vases and cups and saucers in brilliantly decorated porcelain, later shown at the Palazzo Pitti in her adopted home city of Florence.
All images related to: Francesca Woodman, 'Blueprint for a Temple,' 1980. L to R: Artist's sketches / Installation views, Alternative Museum (including Francesca and Betsy Berne) / 'Beyond Photography 80' exhibition catalogue, Alternative Museum / Installation view, 'Spies in the House of Art,' Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012 / Diazotype collage, 173 1/4 x 111 3/16 in. / Diazotype, 24 1/2 x 18 in. / Diazotype, 24 1/2 x 18 1/4 in.
Francesca Woodman, Artist's sketch related to 'Blueprint for a Temple,' 1980.
Francesca Woodman’s Blueprint for a Temple, 1980: From the Archives…
In the spring of 1980, Francesca Woodman’s 'Blueprint for a Temple' was included in the exhibition 'Beyond Photography' at the Alternative Museum in New York City. This ambitiously-scaled work, made from photographs printed on architect’s blueprint paper, is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Images from left to right: Francesca and Charlie in their grembiule (Italian school uniforms), c. 1965-66 / George Woodman’s studio in a 16th century building, Italy, c. 1965-66 / Betty Woodman in her studio, Italy, 1965 / Francesca drawing in an Italian museum, c. 1965-66 / Charlie and Betty at the market, c. 1965-66 / George, Francesca and Betty in Italy, c. 1965-66.
Francesca and Charlie in their grembiule (Italian school uniforms), c. 1965-66.
The Woodmans in Italy, 1960s: From the Archives…
Beginning in 1965, Betty, George, Charlie and Francesca Woodman spent an influential year together as a family in Italy, immersed in museums, art, and culture. Their affinity for Florence took root, leading to the acquisition of a farmhouse in Antella several years later that has served as a family and creative nucleus ever since.
George Woodman’s studio space at Grand Arts, 2004 / Installation views at Grand Arts, 2004 / George Woodman. Chinese Chrysanthemums and the Chaos of Love, 2004. 64 1/4 x 39 1/4 in. Gelatin silver print / George Woodman. Ruth, Baby, Saskia, et al., 2004. 65 3/4 x 39 3/4 in. Gelatin silver print.
George Woodman’s studio space at Grand Arts, 2004.
George Woodman’s residency at Grand Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, 2004: From the Archives…
During his 2004 residency at Grand Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, George Woodman continued his work with one-of-a-kind, large-scale still life photographs, made using a camera obscura.
Images from left to right: Brochure for Betty Woodman / MATRIX 119, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1992 / Installation view from Betty Woodman / Matrix 119. Etruscan Vases, 1965-1966, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Connecticut, 1992.
Brochure for Betty Woodman / MATRIX 119, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1992.
Betty Woodman at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut, 1992: From the Archives…
Her exhibition in the Matrix series at Wadsworth Atheneum in 1992 helped to define a context for Betty Woodman's work in ceramics within the larger world of contemporary art, highlighting "that Woodman sees herself ‘dealing with painting as much as with sculpture.'"
Invitation postcards by Francesca Woodman, Libreria Maldoror, Rome, Italy, 1978.
Invitation postcards by Francesca Woodman, Libreria Maldoror, Rome, Italy, 1977: From the Archives…
Not long after Francesca Woodman arrived in Rome in 1977 on the RISD European Honors Program, she discovered the surrealist bookshop Maldoror, where she later had her first solo exhibition in Europe. She made unique, individual invitations to the show, each featuring one of her photographs attached to a postcard.