ABSTRACT

In the case of "memorial" portraits, accurate and precise description of the subjects' features was the primary goal. It is unlikely that this portrait was commissioned, as it flies in the face of the primary goal of most commercial photography-to present the subject's best face to the world. Lee Friedlander’s “Madison, Wisconsin, 1966” shows a framed photograph of a young African-American girl staring out at the people from a window display. Jo Spence was a critic and artist who was deeply and directly concerned with issues of identity, particularly the social and psychological issues generated by representations of the female body. Francesca Woodman’s work consists largely of self-portraits in which she often depicts herself in the act of disappearing. The drama between the phantom body on the floor and the seated figure is the central event in this complicated picture. An artist concerned with representing the female body with some kind of critical distance faces problems.