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FRANCESCA WOODMAN (American, 1958-1981) SELF-DECEIT, ROME, 1978-79 titled, editioned, dated and s...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:70,000.00 - 100,000.00 USD
FRANCESCA WOODMAN (American, 1958-1981) SELF-DECEIT, ROME, 1978-79 titled, editioned, dated and s...
FRANCESCA WOODMAN
(American, 1958-1981)
SELF-DECEIT, ROME, 1978-79
titled, editioned, dated and signed “Self deceit c. 78 #1 2nd ed./ ed.
of 5 printed Wash State 79/ Francesca Woodman” in pencil on the verso of nos. 1, 4 and 5
series number inscribed in pencil on verso of each print
5 gelatin silver prints
image: 31?2 x 31?2 in. (8.9 x 8.9 cm)
paper: 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
1978-1979
printed 1979
this series is number 2
from an edition of 5
ESTIMATE: $70,000-100,000
PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s NEW YORK,
April 26, 2001, Lot 234
Private Collection, EUROPE
LITERATURE
FRANCESCA WOODMAN, PHOTOGRAPHIC WORK, WELLESLEY, Wellesley College Museum, 1986, p. 13 (illustrated)
HervÈ ChandËs ed., FRANCESCA WOODMAN, PARIS, Fondation Cartier
pour l’Art Contemporain, 1998, no. 1,
p. 105 and no. 4, p. 107 (illustrated)
In this series of five photographs Francesca Woodman offers stylistic elegance and conceptual rigor. While crouching, crawling and hiding, Woodman generates an intimate conversation between herself and the camera. This dialogue is enhanced by mirrors and deep shadows, which alternately obscure and emphasize the artist's image.
“I show you what you do not see the body’s inner–force,” Woodman once said of her photographs. “You cannot see me from where I look at myself” (Phillipe Sollers, FRANCESCA WOODMAN, PARIS, Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, 1998, p.10). In these photographs, it is clear that Woodman is engaged in a deeply personal self-exploration. She expresses visceral emotion through her choice of harsh surroundings. While writhing or standing tall in this cruel setting, Woodman exposes her inner turmoil, giving us a glimpse of the place where she does, indeed, “look at [her] self.”
Numbers 1, 3 and 5 are each believed to be one of only 6 extant vintage prints of the image; number 2 is believed to be one of 15 extant vintage prints of the image; number 4 is believed to be one of only 5 extant vintage prints of the image.