At age 13, American artist Francesca Woodman was gifted a camera by her father, beginning a short but prolific life as a photographer. Woodman exclusively used black and white film, often depicting women as they interacted with and disappeared into their environments, partially hidden from the viewer’s gaze. The influence of Surrealism and the photographs of Man Ray can be seen in long exposures that blur her subjects and the playful use of furniture and props. Describing her practice, Woodman cited André Breton’s Nadja (1928) as an influence, “[Breton] picks out the allusions and enigmatic details of some rather ordinary unmysterious snapshots and elaborates them into a story. I’d like my photographs to condense experience.”

–Carly Davis, from the Glenstone Field Guide