Cindy Sherman is a contemporary American photographer best known for self portraits that depict her as various imagined characters. These artistic constructions reference icons of culture, gender, and social cues through various assumed identities. The tone is sometimes critical and other times humorous, often appropriating the tropes of television or Hollywood.
Many of Cindy Sherman’s photographs resemble frozen film frames from the film noir genre of motion picture. The intent is presented as a feminist commentary on the production of media for a chiefly male audience. In these art photographs, she portrayed contempt for stereotypes and the objectification of women in media. These roles included the housewife, the seductive siren, and the ingenue, whom she observed in low-budget movies as well as blockbuster films and television.
Sherman’s work is in various museums including the MOMA. Perhaps her most celebrated art photographs are a collection of 8×10 inch black and white images entitled Complete Untitled Film Stills. She was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship as well as the Praemium Imperiale. She also was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London.
Sherman has also produced a number of color fine art photography, producing larger photographs, up to 49 inches/126 cm.
“I feel I’m anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself… Sometimes I disappear.”
Cindy Sherman
Sherman is a blue chip fine art photographer. Her work has sold at auction for as high as $3.8 million, setting a record for the highest price ever realized for a photograph. The sale was of a 1981 untitled self portrait, sold at Christie’s auction house in 2011. The image depicts Sherman in an orange sweater and color-coordinated plaid skirt, laying on what appears to be a tile floor.
Cindy Sherman biographical summary
Born: January 19, 1954, Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Education: Buffalo State College, graduated 1976