"Untitled #96" 1981
Cindy Sherman (born 1954)
Chromogenic color print, 24 x 48"

This photograph sold for the highest price in history…$3.9 million.

Cindy Sherman, the photographer, is a creative wild woman at the camera.

Using costumes, wigs, make-up and simple sets, Sherman invents a character.  Then she poses in front of her own camera.  No matter what Sherman’s disguise, the photo is ALWAYS a self-portrait.

Famous 15th century women from art history, clowns, Hollywood starlets and abused women have been her subjects.

In the photograph above, Sherman is dressed as a teenage girl on the verge of womanhood.  This girl (Sherman) is lying supine on the kitchen floor clutching a torn classified ad. Is she dreaming of her traditional future of marriage and family?  Or of a different kind of future?

It’s 1980.  Women are demanding equality in the workplace. The second feminist movement is in full swing. This photograph marks a critical, tumultuous time in America.

Sherman’s most recent work explores the experience of women “of a certain age” struggling with today’s impossible standards of beauty in a youth-obsessed culture. (see video link below)

Cindy Sherman is not ridiculing these women.  These photographs are self-portraits.  She is one of us. She makes us examine the “masks” we wear and the roles we play.

Spectacular Video of Cindy Sherman’s Art.
Use this link if unable to view the video.

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