Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island
- Artist: Francesca Woodman
- Date: 1976
- Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
- Dimensions: image: 143 x 144 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is "Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island" by Francesca Woodman. It's a black‑and‑white gelatin silver print from 1976. In the square frame, Woodman sits alone on a white wooden chair in a bare, abandoned corner. She's nude except for a necklace and a pair of dark Mary‑Jane shoes, hair piled up with a single lock falling over her cheek. She looks straight at the camera, legs together, feet tucked, hands in her lap. Behind her, a window lets in a bright beam that washes the room in stark whites, while on the left a darkened window frame gives a sense of decay.
One of the most striking elements is the dark silhouette on the floor— a shadow of a body created by flour dust that fell when a freight car overturned near her studio. It makes the floor look almost translucent, like she's sinking into the surface. This image is one of a series that explores vulnerability, gender, and the relationship between body and empty interior spaces, blending intimate self‑portraiture with a touch of surrealist play.
See it in person
Untitled, Providence, Rhode Island is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
