Francesca Woodman, “I’m trying my hand at fashion photography”

Woodman (1958–1981) was sort of the manic pixie dream girl of postmodern art. Her career, cut short by suicide at age 22, paralleled Cindy Sherman's; like Sherman, she posed herself in photos that questioned assumptions about female identity. Woodman's approach, however, was to render herself naked—both literally and figuratively—in surreal, dreamlike images taken with long blurry, exposures in abandoned interiors. In this respect, her efforts resemble the photographs of Ralph Eugene Meatyard more than anything else. Woodman has become a posthumous star with work in great demand, prompting dealers to riffle through her archive for more and more material. This show presents her little-known forays into fashion photography.