Francesca Woodman “On Being an Angel” exhibition at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris

“Throughout her career, the young American photographer Francesca Woodman revisited the theme of angels. In On Being an Angel (1976) she is seen bending backward as light falls on her white body. A black umbrella is perched in the distance. The following year she made a new version – an image with a darker mood in which she shows her face. Woodman developed the angel motif during a visit to Rome where she photographed herself in a large, abandoned building. In these images, she is wearing a white petticoat, but her chest is bare. White pieces of cloth in the background are like wings. She called these photographs From Angel Series (1977) and From a Series on Angels (1977). There are also a number of pictures simply called Angels (1977–78), and among them is one where again she is bending backward, but this time in front of a graffitied wall. These angels are but a few examples of Francesca Woodman’s practice of staging her body and her face.” – Anna Tellgren

On view until July 31th, 2016, at Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, 2, Impasse Lebouis, 75014 Paris.

Photo Inès Manai