Kept untouched in a box for close to forty years George Lange’s pictures of Francesca Woodman along with a selection of prints and ephemera that Woodman gifted to Lange were exhibited at the Denver Art Museum last year in a show titled “Portrait of a Reputation”. Yet more than that, the photographs are a portrait of a friendship.
Lange, who went on to be one of the most successful editorial photographers in magazines, clearly saw that Woodman had the makings of a star and his pictures are imbued with an appreciation of her talent and a premonition of her significance as an artist. By turns objective, intimate, and yet slightly aghast at the mess that was Woodman’s personal and creative environment – Lange’s photographs shine a light on both sides of the camera - revealing his instinctive skill as a photographer and a happier side of Woodman that is a refreshing take on her life.