Winged victory
A new show pays homage to the ethereal work of two photographers
‘Here are two incredible women who shaped the history of photography and continue to offer us new ways to see the world,’ says the curator Magdalene Keaney, introducing Julia Margaret Cameron and Francesca Woodman. Although this pair of portraitists never met, for they lived 100 years apart, Keaney is bringing their respective bodies of work into dialogue with one another in a captivating exhibition, ‘Portraits to Dream In’, at the National Portrait Gallery.
Cameron was a British Victorian who was celebrated in her lifetime for the way she captured famous figures, and for compositions portraying subjects posed in allegorical or literary scenes. Contrastingly, Woodman’s by turns surreal, amusing and painful images only received the acclaim they deserved after her untimely death in 1981, aged 22. By displaying their works under seven thematic umbrellas, the show highlights the resonances between the artists’ ideas and techniques: mythology was a shared interest, as was the angel figure. ‘They both frequently created celestial beings in their photographs,’ Keaney explains. ‘Cameron’s angels are based on Christian biblical narratives – featuring children as cherubs – so they are more literal than Woodman’s, which tend to be abstracted and suggestive.’
‘The exhibition’s title references how these portraits are not intended to mimic reality, but conjure notions of imagination, beauty, symbolism, transformation and storytelling,’ concludes Keaney. Visitors are encouraged to join these female pioneers in entering a flight of fancy and leaving the everyday behind, even for an hour. charlotte brook ‘Portraits to Dream In’ is at the National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk) from 21 March to 16 June.