circa 1976 (Woodman, Phaidon, p. 239)

Gift of the photographer to the pre🔯sent owner, when students togethe🍨r at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1970s

Some Disordered Interior Geometries (Pittsburgh: Synapse/Visual Arts Press, 1981); this image appears as the eleventh of a sequence in the only book published during Woodman's lifetime.  The inspiration for this project was an old Italian geometry exercise book Woodman found in Rome in 1977-78, which she then proceeded to embellish with her own photographs and writings.  The present image appears on a left-facing page opposite a chapter titled 'Problems to Solve, 1. Surface and Volume of Polygonal Objects.'  Under the photograph in the book, Woodman has written 'I made this.'

This print, on creamy single-weight paper with a surface sheen, is in generally very good to excellent condition. The margin edges are rubbed, and the corners are bumped, with minor creasing. When examined in raking light, several soft handling creases are somewhat visible in the margins. These do not affect the image.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The image offered here appears as the eleventh of a sequence in Woodman's only book published during her lifetime, Some Disordered Interior Geometries (Pittsburgh: Synapse/Visual Arts Press, 1981).  The inspiration for this project was an old Italian geometry exercise book Woodman found in Rome in 1977-78, which she then proceeded to embellish with her own photographs and writings.  The present image appears on a left-facing page opposite a chapter titled 'Problems to Solve, 1. Surface and Volume of Polygonal Objects.'  Under the photograph in the book, Woodman has✅ written 'I made this.'

Her appreciation, if not reverence, for used and discarded objects (her own clothing always came from thrift stores) is the underlying subtext for what Chris Townsend calls her 'most complex book, a three-way game that plays the text and illustrations for an introduction to Euclid against Woodman's own text and diagrams, as well as the "geometry" of her formal compositions.  This tripartite balancing act has the magical dexterity of a fugue' (Townsend, Francesca Woodman, p. 239).