Francesca Woodman: Alternate Stories

Classic and previously unseen photographs and archival materials by a genius of staged photography, with a new essay by Chris Kraus

This elegant volume presents more than 40 vintage photographs by the pioneering American photographer Francesca Woodman (1958-81), many of which have never before been seen. These photographs span the creative arc of the artist’s life, focusing on the varied thought processes, interests and influences that inspired her work. Clustered thematically, Francesca Woodman: Alternate Stories highlights previously unexplored relational contexts, drawing deeply on Woodman’s formative years in Providence, Rhode Island, and Italy, and featuring previously unpublished photographs and archival materials. In the newly commissioned essay Impure Alchemy, critic and novelist Chris Kraus explores Francesca Woodman’s life via her work, drawing upon her journals and letters as primary source materials, and exploring the technical means and literary strategies that animate Woodman’s works. Francesca Woodman: Alternate Stories portrays the artist’s lasting impact on generations of artists, and offers a compendium of images, which, as Kraus writes, still inspire new mysteries and questions.