Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron – Portraits to Dream In review: they deserve shows of their own

Born more than a century apart, one a Victorian pioneer, the other an American who died young, these female stars of photography aren’t an entirely satisfying mix – but Francesca Woodman’s thrilling images steal the show

‘Untitled, 1979’, Francesca Woodman (Woodman Family Foundation/ DACS)

You could say that artists are a little like flavours – some work together, others don’t. Food journalist Nigel Slater once said, “You can’t really argue with the theory that if you like something then it works, but to experiment with marrying flavours, in a trial-and-error situation like a mad scientist, will not only take forever but will probably lead to some really horrid meals.” Now, I’m not suggesting this exhibition is horrid – on the contrary, there’s a lot to like – but to me the pairing of its protagonists isn’t satisfying.

Francesca Woodman (1958-81) and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79) are two of the most influential portrait photographers in art history. Cameron was British, working in Victorian England and then Sri Lanka, Woodman was American, working in Italy and the US. They lived a century apart. Both produced vast amounts of varied art during their brief, concentrated careers (Cameron started late, Woodman died young). Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron: Portraits to Dream In at the National Portrait Gallery mixes more than 160 of their soft-focused, monochrome prints.

Borrowing its name from something Woodman said about photographs being “places for the viewer to dream in”, the show is small but pleasingly packed. At times the artists’ images are coupled to reveal thematic and formal similarities and differences, among them the presence of a brolly in bloom and blurry shapes achieved by slow shutter speeds. Elsewhere they mingle: a pale-blue wall is piled high with angels and otherworldly beings, Cameron’s cherubic with clasped hands and feathered wings, Woodman’s abstracted and unnerving (think lightning-like overexposure and suspended limbs).