Cindy Sherman - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Tuesday, November 10, 2015 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Metro Pictures Gallery, New York
    Private Collection

  • Exhibited

    Munster, Westfalische Kunstverein, Cindy Sherman Photographie, December 1985 - January, 1986 (another example exhibited)
    New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Cindy Sherman, July 4 - October 4, 1987
    Basel, Kunsthalle, then travelled to Munich, Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst and London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Cindy Sherman, March - September, 1991
    Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman, Laurie Simmons, January - March, 1993
    Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, then travelled to Malmo, Kunsthall and Luzern, Kunstmuseum, Cindy Sherman: Photoarbeiten 1975-1995, May 1995 - February, 1996 (another example exhibited)
    Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art, then travelled to Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Prague, Galerie Rudolfinum, London, Barbican Art Gallery, Bordeaux, capc Musee d'art contemporain, and Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, Cindy Sherman Retrospective, November 1997-January 2000 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature

    Cindy Sherman Photographie, exh. cat. Westfalische Kunstverein, Munster, 1986, p. 28 (illustrated)
    Cindy Sherman, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1987, pl. 97 (illustrated)
    Cindy Sherman, exh. cat., Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1991, p. 44
    Cindy Sherman: Photoarbeiten 1975-1995, exh. cat., Deichtorhallen, 1995, pl. 87 (illustrated)
    Cindy Sherman Retrospective, exh. cat., The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 1997, pl. 102, p. 136 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    "I see humor in almost everything, in even the grotesque things, because I don’t want people to believe in them as if they were documentary that really does show true horror. I want them to be artificial, so you can laugh or giggle at them, as I do when I watch horror movies."
    Cindy Sherman, 2012

  • Artist Biography

    Cindy Sherman

    American • 1954

    Seminal to the Pictures Generation as well as contemporary photography and performance art, Cindy Sherman is a powerhouse art practitioner.  Wily and beguiling, Sherman's signature mode of art making involves transforming herself into a litany of characters, historical and fictional, that cross the lines of gender and culture. She startled contemporary art when, in 1977, she published a series of untitled film stills.

    Through mise-en-scène​ and movie-like make-up and costume, Sherman treats each photograph as a portrait, though never one of herself. She embodies her characters even if only for the image itself. Presenting subversion through mimicry, against tableaus of mass media and image-based messages of pop culture, Sherman takes on both art history and the art world.

    Though a shape-shifter, Sherman has become an art world celebrity in her own right. The subject of solo retrospectives across the world, including a blockbuster showing at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and a frequent exhibitor at the Venice Biennale among other biennials, Sherman holds an inextricable place in contemporary art history.

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147

Untitled #155

1985
color coupler print
72 1/2 x 49 1/4 in. (184.2 x 125.1 cm)
This work is number 3 from an edition of 6.

Estimate
$120,000 - 180,000 

Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head Day Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1261

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 10 November 2015 11am