--- title: Francesca Woodman Retrospective Opens at San Francisco Museum of Art description: Known for her surrealist self-portraits, the photographer's most comprehensive posthumous exhibition to date is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. canonical: https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/ author: Alexander Ho article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-11-04T08:00:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:03.916Z article:section: World og:title: Francesca Woodman Retrospective Opens at San Francisco Museum of Art og:description: Known for her surrealist self-portraits, the photographer's most comprehensive posthumous exhibition to date is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. og:url: https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdece28953845c178/69879a7755a8592619a87424/13_woodman_polkadots_p025_lede.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Francesca Woodman - Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Francesca Woodman Retrospective Opens at San Francisco Museum of Art twitter:description: Known for her surrealist self-portraits, the photographer's most comprehensive posthumous exhibition to date is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdece28953845c178/69879a7755a8592619a87424/13_woodman_polkadots_p025_lede.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Retrospective: Looking Back on Francesca Woodman’s Prolific Career by [Alexander Ho](/author/alexander-ho/) ## Alexander Ho Nov 4, 2011 8:00 AM CUT  Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976\. Gelatin silver print, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. (13.3 x 13.3 cm). Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976\. Gelatin silver print, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. (13.3 x 13.3 cm).Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman by [Alexander Ho](/author/alexander-ho/) ## Alexander Ho Nov 4, 2011 8:00 AM CUT In a life cut short by suicide at the age of 22, Francesca Woodman created a legacy of work that continues to influence generations of photographers and viewers alike. Her haunting, surrealist black and white self portraits—perhaps best represented in her _House_ series (1975 -1978)— explored the body within space, and Woodman created images where she both confronts and retreats from the viewer by gazing into and camouflaging herself from the lens. The allure of her photographs, which are both candid and exploratory, emerges from their diaristic quality and evokes the range of emotional fluxes of adolescence. Woodman’s career, a thing of prodigy, began at the age of 13\. She was born in 1953 to artist parents, George and Betty Woodman, both independently accomplished. Woodman spent much of her early life in the Italian country side, which influenced the rustic, dilapidated settings of the self portraits she made in college at the Rhode Island School of Design. Being young was never a limitation to her image making, but rather, its driving and most provocative force. Upon graduation, Woodman left for New York to enter the city’s art world and delved into fashion photography, but her work never gained success or attention. This led her into an inescapable, deep depression, ultimately contributing to the decision to take her own life. Though her career spanned less than a decade, Woodman was a prolific artist. Her work, in its most comprehensive collection to date, is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through Feb. 20\. The exhibition features a full scope of Woodman’s work, from photographs and video to self-portraits and fashion work. Many of the images—which number around 160 in total—have never been seen by the public and draw from private collections from around the world as well as the collection of the Woodman family. Following its debut in San Francisco, the exhibition will travel to New York and be on view at the Guggenheim from March 16-June 13\. An accompanying catalogue, published by DAP, includes essays and writings by the show’s curator, Corey Keller, among others. [Francesca Woodman](http://www.sfmoma.org/exhib%5Fevents/exhibitions/430 "undefined") _is on display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through Feb. 20 and will open at New York’s Guggenheim museum Mar. 16._  Untitled, Antella, 1977–78 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 1980 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy San Francisco Museum of Modern Art  Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1975–76 Francesca Woodman / Collection Sammlung Verbund, Vienna  Untitled, New York, 1979–80 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, New York, 1979–80 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, New York, 1980 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, New York, 1979–80 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, New York, 1979–80 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Self-Portrait Talking to Vince, 1975–78. Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman  Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island, 1977–78 Francesca Woodman / The Black Dog Collection  Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976 Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/"},"headline":"Retrospective: Looking Back on Francesca Woodman’s Prolific Career","datePublished":"2011-11-04T08:00:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:03.916Z","description":"Known for her surrealist self-portraits, the photographer's most comprehensive posthumous exhibition to date is now on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.","url":"https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/","keywords":["LightBox","San Francisco","Out There"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdece28953845c178/69879a7755a8592619a87424/13_woodman_polkadots_p025_lede.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexander Ho","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexander-ho/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdece28953845c178/69879a7755a8592619a87424/13_woodman_polkadots_p025_lede.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Francesca Woodman - Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island","caption":"Polka Dots, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976. Gelatin silver print, 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. (13.3 x 13.3 cm).","creditText":"Francesca Woodman / Courtesy George and Betty Woodman","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/16179/retrospective-looking-back-on-francesca-woodmans-prolific-career/","name":"Retrospective: Looking Back on Francesca Woodman’s Prolific Career"}}]}] ```