A year ago, The National Portrait Gallery in London opened an intriguing exhibition: Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: ‘Portraits to Dream In’.
At first, these two photographers seem an unlikely pair! After all, they are separated by time and geography (Cameron English, Woodman American), Cameron taking her first pictures in 1863, Francesca over a hundred years later.
And yet, both were pioneers, and both shared an interest in ethereal subject matter…
For Cameron’s work, see my previous ‘Letter from England’ – ‘Two Photographers’.
Here, I concentrate on Woodman, who happens to be one of my favourite artists. Her work is astonishing – mysterious, performative, elusive…
Tragically, she committed suicide at just 22 years old. It was a vanishing trick some of her pictures seem to hint at.
I end this short look at her work with some equally ‘other-worldly’ music by the group ‘Ghostly Kisses’. Margaux Sauve’s voice a kind of sonic equivalent to the strange imprint of Francesca’s brief but intensely brilliant life.
