Ap Art HistoryArtist Research

Presentation

Walid EkhlasApril 8, 2014

Period 5

Born: Glen Ridge, NJ, USAOccupation: American Photographer and Film DirectorBest Known For: Conceptual PortraitsEducation: graduate from New York state university at BuffaloNotable Accomplishment: Recipient of MacArthur fellowship in 1995 aimed to award those who show merit for creative work.

Artist: Cindy ShermanJanuary 19, 1954-Current

Various WorksAfter graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo, Sherman began work on Untitled Film Stills (1977-80), one of her best-known projects. The series of 8 x 10-inch black-and-white photographs features Sherman in a variety of roles reminiscent of film noir. Throughout her career she would continue to be the model in her photographs, donning wigs and costumes that evoke images from the realms of advertising, television, film, and fashion and that, in turn, challenge the cultural stereotypes about women supported by these media. During the 1980s Sherman's work featured mutilated bodies and reflected concerns such as eating disorders, insanity, and death. She returned to ironic commentary upon female identities in the 1990s, introducing mannequins and dolls to some of her photographs. Sherman works in series, typically photographing herself in a range of costumes. To create her photographs, Sherman shoots alone in her studio, assuming multiple roles as author, director, make-up artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model.

Untitled (#228)Cindy Sherman. 1990

Content:Sherman’s history portraits (1988–90) investigate modes of representation in art history and the relationship between painter and model. These classically composed portraits borrow from a number of art-historical periods—Renaissance, baroque, rococo, Neoclassical—and make allusions to paintings by Raphael, Caravaggio, Fragonard, and Ingres. This free-association sampling creates a sense of familiarity, but not of any one specific era or style. The subjects (for the first time for Sherman, many are men) include aristocrats, Madonnas with child, clergymen, women of leisure, and milkmaids, who pose with props, costumes, and obvious prostheses. Theatrical and artificial—full of large noses, bulging bellies, squirting breasts, warts, and unibrows—the history portraits are poised between humorous parody and grotesque caricature. This work, as well as all of her others, was a result of color photography.

Everything You Need to KnowCindy Sherman had strong distaste for the depiction and social gender stereotyping of women as unequals in society. Through a number of different series of works, Sherman had sought to raise challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art. She avoided putting titles on the works to preserve their overall sense of ambiguity. The proportions in #228 and others are very realistic. They contain accurate proportions due to her use of mannequins or herself except in cases where certain bodily features are grotesquely emphasized. The anatomy, clothing, and expressions seem all conclusive with a typical person but the stance and pose tip off the deeper meaning behind the image. This meaning generally involves an anti-culture ideal supporting women breaking free from stereotypical roles in society.

Specific Works Similar in NatureUntitled #226. 1990 and Untitled #211. 1989

Common Elements/ Conclusion

The use of color among these images lends greatly to making them stand out. The use of light is utilized in such a fashion to illuminate the subject of the work. The works are evidently three dimensional in nature to outline the flaws of women purposefully to show that the cultural portrayal of “perfection” is a myth and there is nothing wrong with having flaws. The proportions generally alter between differing works but that is due to varying subjects and anatomical inconsistencies being emphasized. Overall, her works serve to depict how society has shaped us to be more willing to accept and show respect to only those who come closest to anatomical perfection, especially in women. This has been a very controversial topic both in her generation and the forthcoming generations and her aims to put the issue into the light is very admirable.

Additional Examples of

Flaws depicted by Cindy Sherman