Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron : Portraits to Dream In

Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron : Portraits to Dream In – Living and working over a century apart, British photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and American photographer Francesca Woodman experienced vastly different ways of making and understanding images. Yet the two share more similarities than expected. Both artists had brief careers lasting less than 15 years; while neither enjoyed popularity and success during their lives, they have posthumously received widespread acclaim. Their portraits feature ethereal, experimental qualities that connect them soundly across time.

The beautifully illustrated catalog, accompanying the exhibition of the same name at the National Portrait Gallery, London, includes Woodman’s and Cameron’s best-known photographs as well as less familiar images. The book begins with three feature essays that consider Cameron and Woodman simultaneously and moves on to 10 thematic sections interspersing works by the two artists. Portraits to Dream In makes new connections between the work of two innovative photographers who pushed the boundaries of the photographic medium and experimented with ideas of beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling to produce some of art history’s most compelling and admired images ; edited by Magdalene Keaney, with essays by Katarina Jerinic and Helen Ennis.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery at London (United Kingdom) from 21 March to 16 june 2024 and at Institut Valencià d’Art Modern IVAM at Valencià (Spain) from 11 July to 20 October 2024.