Cindy Sherman - photo artist between roles and physicality

Photography - this is the art that many people perceive as almost familiar because they often had a camera in their hands. The more these people are interested in what distinguishes their own pictures from those of the photo artist, and are happy to learn something about the person and the work of these photo artists.

One of the sizes in this area is the American Cindy Sherman, who caused a sensation with various photo series , in which she is surprising and disturbing with roles and identity issues and in this context also with sexuality and physicality .

The focus of Sherman's work is the large number of identity stereotypes, which have arisen in both art history and in the history of advertising, cinema and the media. Sherman reveals and dismantles these stereotypes and the mechanics of their production by creating series about series of photographs that focus on certain image manufacturing processes.

In most of her work, Sherman is a model , photographer and director . It changes her appearance regularly through make-up, prostheses and costumes to the relegation. She draws her personas from a number of sources, including fairy tales, art history , film noir and the fashion world . Their use of costumes and make-up basically questioned the way portraits were considered.

It is one of the most important artists of the Pictures generation - a group that also includes Richard Prince, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine and Robert Longo - who grew up in the 1970s and, with humorous criticism, reacted to the mass media landscape surrounding them .

Important stations in the life of Cindy Sherman

• 1954 - born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey
• 1976 - BA in photography from State University College in Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
• 1977 - Admission to the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
• 1983 - Admission to John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship
• 1995 - Scholarship between John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Cindy Sherman lives and works in New York.

Childhood, training and early works

Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 in the small town of Glen Ridge in New Jersey, but grew up in Huntington (on Long Island before New York). At that time she was still called Cynthia Morris and was the youngest of five siblings, between her and the oldest Morris descendant are 19 years. Her father was an enthusiastic camera collector, at the age of 10 she got her first camera.

She immediately used him eagerly to live out her imagination, but also to look for her place in this family, which had been two decades. During this time her photo book "That's Me" , at the high school the imaginative student thought of becoming an artist for the first time.

Cindy began studying art in Buffalo in autumn 1972, at State University of New York. First she also practiced in sculpture and painting and drawing, but she quickly realized that photography had become and would remain its actual artistic medium.

After graduation, she moved to New York in 1976 and married a video artist, these and other marriages were divorced, today Cindy Sherman still lives in New York, most recently together with the musician and actor David Byrne .

Bus Riders

Even as a child, Cindy loved disguises, but not the beautiful ones with ruffles, but above all the ugly, strange, sloping. It begins her well -known artistic work with a number of self -portraits in a wide variety of costumes , during the course the series " Untitleded AD" and the series " Bus Riders" .

From then on, it often happens that Sherman herself appears in her works not to be recognized, but as a surface for make -up and hairstyles and wigs and the craziest dresses, these accessories gave Sherman a completely different look in every photo.

The “Bus Riders” were z. B. women in very different ages, with different skin color and on the clothing of different social origin, all of which were embodied by Sherman (by the way, down to the smallest detail, the respective posture always had to be correct).

Hallwalls and Artists Space

In 1975 Longo and Charles Clough opened the alternative art space of Hallwall , which still exists today and young artists . As part of her activities there, Cindy Sherman became part of the art scene and got to know important personalities such as Martha Wilson , Dan Graham , Bruce Nauman , Nancy Holt, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Irwin, Richard Serra and Katharina Sieverding. Art critics such as Lucy Lippard, Marcia Tucker and Helene Winer were also part of their network.

Helene Winer headed the alternative artist Space in New York and in 1977 curated the exhibition "Pictures" , to which some of the Hallwalls artists, including Sherman, Longo and Sherrie Levine , were invited. This exhibition led to the foundation of the Pictures Generation , which in the 1980s became the leading young generation on the west coast.

While Sherman worked as a receptionist in the Artist Space (sometimes disguised), she worked on her photographic series at the same time, which gave her international breakthrough in the early 1980s.

Rising to global awareness with black and white photo series

From 1977 to 1980 Sherman's most famous work was created, the “Untitled Film - Stills” . With this black and white photo series, which significantly promoted the concept of narrative photography, she achieved worldwide attention in the art world.

“Untitled Film - Stills”, that is 69 individually numbered, but otherwise not titled photographs, Sherman appears as an actress in these still pictures of fictional film scenes. In her cladding, she embodies a different common place in each picture that could have originated directly from a B-movie of the 1940s or 1950s.

According to his own statement, Sherman only stopped No. 69 because she no longer came up with clichés.

Sherman changed and developed further. In her pictures she shows the variety of human types and stereotypes. She often works in series and improvises on topics such as center folds (1981) and social portraits (2008) . Untitled #216 from their historical portraits (1981) illustrates their use of theatrical effects to embody different roles, and their lack of attempt to hide their efforts: their wigs often slide off, their prostheses dissolve and their make-up is badly mixed.

It emphasizes the artificiality of these inventions, a metaphor for the artificiality of all identity constructions.

Change to the color film

Although she started her career with black and white photography, Sherman switched to the color film in the early 1980s. Right at the beginning of the 1980s, the “Rear screen projects” (1980) were created in color. These are productions that received strangely flat and fake backgrounds from the film production that was taken from film production.

While she sometimes portrayed glamorous characters, Sherman has been more and more interested in the grotesque. In the 1980s and 1990s, series such as Disasters (1986–89) and Sex Pictures (1992) the audience in explicit, visceral images with the strange and ugly aspects of being human.

At that time, pictures of sick bodies could be seen in the news AIDS crisis This added sharpness to her examination of the grotesque and various types of violence that could be taken with the body.

In these series and in all their work, Sherman undermines the visual short letter that we use to classify the world around us by directing attention to the artificiality and ambiguity of these stereotypes and undermining their reliability for understanding a much more complicated reality.

In 1981 there was a small scandal when Sherman took some pictures from a bird's eye view for the Artforum magazine , in which the model - again Sherman in different self -presentations - moved in different poses on and on the floor. The perspective of the camera looks very dominant, the model of dreamy or anxious, perhaps also submissive that the poses made the pictures think of the illustrations in the Playboy, was definitely intended.

Nevertheless, these pictures were not published at the time, the editor of the Art Forum was afraid that they were too sexist. “fashion Photos” following in 1983 , which played far more subtly with the stereotypes, among which femininity is seen socially.

In 1985 Sherman discovered her second focus, the body in all its appearances. Until 1989 she worked on the “Disasters” , these disasters consisted of finely arranged prostheses, excretions, earth, waste and foods that have been collected in front of her, the terrible illustrations of the expiry.

Sherman saw the trigger for this work in disgust, which she felt when looking at the body of over -thin models in connection with the “fashion photos”, from now on she kept such shock effects in her work, but wanted to see more fundamentally more humorous than body torture in fashion photography.

From 1988, Sherman followed “History Portraits” , in which she turned into a masterly complexity of the staging in the type of old master in templates of historical paintings, so her role-playing topic has now been transferred to art history.

The “Sex Pictures” or “Mannequin Pictures” from 1992 want to shock again, Sherman arranged shops, prosthesis and anatomical models that perform sexual actions.

Cindy Shermans 'Sex Pictures' - Gender as a mask?

In her series of sex pictures that came into being in 1992, Sherman said goodbye to her own body. Previously, she had covered and supported parts of her body with prostheses and artificial extremities in previous series - especially when she wanted to show naked meat.

Now she lets her body disappear in favor of medical limbs, which represent a realistic and anatomically correct replica of the human body.

The sex pictures show sexually presenting productions with the dolls mentioned and parts of dolls, some of which are borrowed from pornography . The scenes are surrounded by precious, shimmering fabrics that create an artificial space that stands out from the real environment.

This space serves as a test arrangement and further increases the artificiality of the dolls and their positioning.

This convincing representation of the bare plastic meat and its body openings take place on a pre -stained stage. The sexual aspect is reinforced by accessories and the mysterious darkness, which envelops certain areas of the image space, ensures an urgent lighting staging.

To moving pictures

For a photographer, the world of moving pictures does not seem to be far away, and Sherman also says that the film has had a great influence on it.

Her herself was not very much the eventful game and telling in dialogues, which is why the artist that appears so often appeared in her own photos initially appears in the film as “she yourself”, in 1986 in a video from and about the New York art center “The Kitchen” (The Kitchen Presents: Two Moon July) and 1998 in John Waters' Film “The Pecker”, comedy a in 1998 Amateur photographers.

In 1997 she directed the feature film “Office Killer” , a bloody thriller who is shown at the international film festival in Locarno and was well received by the cinema seekers.

The 1000 faces of the Cindy Sherman

The US photographer has been portraying herself in multiple productions for around 40 years and yet can never be recognized. A retrospective in Paris shows the many faces of the Cindy Sherman.

Important exhibitions, collections and awards

In the meantime, Sherman has been on the documenta and on the Biennals in Venice and in New York and has been shown in many parts of the world almost without interruption, in 1994 she was one of the classics of photographic contemporary art.

In 1995 the first work of her work in the Hamburg Deichtorhallen shown, the Museum of Modern Art acquired a deduction of the complete “Untitled Film Stills” silk for a record price and recognized Sherman in 1997 with a solo exhibition.

Her work is included in the collections of the Tate Gallery , London; The Museum of Modern Art; And among other things the Metropolitan Museum of Art . Sherman received numerous awards, including the Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 1999 and a scholarship from the Macarthur Foundation in 1995.

In 1999 Sherman was elected to the ten best living artists by the magazine ArtNews , and in the same year she was appointed to the jury of the Venice International Film Festival.

In 2000, a new “Untitled series”, which Sherman shows as a wide variety of women in society, with all skin color and all social origin, was created in 2004, Sherman photographed herself for her “Clowns” project in clown masks and clown costumes in front of computer-generated, colorful backgrounds.

In 2007 a work show took place in the Berlin Martin Gropius building, in which the artist from 30 years (1975-2005) were seen, in 2012 “That's me-that's not me” and other early works by Cindy Sherman in the vertical gallery in Vienna, and the museum of modern art in New York retrospective shortly afterwards .

More solo exhibitions:

The American artist Cindy Sherman has been dealing with fashion and integrates it into her artistic work. The exhibition "Anti-Fashion" focuses on your photographic work and illuminates it from a new perspective .

The interplay between fashion and art becomes clear, since Sherman uses their cooperation with renowned designers and their numerous orders from magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar as a constant source of inspiration.

However, the artist still influences the aesthetics of the fashion world and sets essential impulses for an entire generation of photographers. Due to the medium of photography, fashion and visual art have always been in dialogue, but Cindy Sherman also questions the whole system with all its abysses.

Her interest in the fashion world shows a subversive attitude towards what it represents. In her photographs, she shows figures that are anything but desirable and thus contradict all conventions of Haute Couture and the usual ideas of beauty.

Last but not least, the topic of fashion for the artist proves to be a starting point for her critical questions about gender , stereotypes and dealing with aging .

Sherman's wide range of characters shows the artificiality and changeability of identity, which appears more selectable than ever, (self) constructed and fluent.

Small work show

In the following short video you will get a little insight into the works and the work of this extraordinary artist. The recordings were taken in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art .

You can view more videos and productions by Cindy Sherman directly on the Museum of Modern Art website.

Here you will find numerous works and photographs by the artist:

• Moma - Cindy Sherman
• Cindy Sherman, ed. v. Eva Respini (Kat. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Dallas Museum of Art) New York 2012.

TV documentary from SWR/Arte

A master of staged photography is Sherman; World -famous and still almost - unknown. Because the photo artist has not been giving television interviews for several years; It is considered extremely media shy.

That is why this film by SWR and Arte the work of Cindy Sherman in the foreground; Review all of her big photo series-their legendary black and white classics, the "filmstills" , as well as their fashion photos or their youngest work, the "clowns" .

A total photographic work of art is shown and discussed, which has continued to develop in 30 years and yet consistently follows a big topic: the image of women in society.

The artist, which was awarded many prices, has always emphasized that she works more spontaneously than thinking about each of her productions for a long time, and yet she provides an impressive and deep analysis of people in our society in her work.

Sources of literature recommendations for Cindy Sherman

• The Cindy Sherman Effect. Identity and Transformation in Contemporary Art, ed. v. Ingried Brugger and Bettina M. Busse (Kat. Kat. Kunstforum Vienna, 29.1.-24.6.2020), Munich 2020.
• Cindy Sherman, ed. v. Eva Respini (Kat. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Dallas Museum of Art) New York 2012.
• Phoebe Hoban, The Cindy Sherman Effect, in: Art News, 2012, o. S.
• Ingelfinger, A. (1999). Gender as a mask? Cindy Shermans 'Sex Pictures'. Freiburg women's studies, 1, 41-60. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-Soar-315672