Cindy Sherman - Photographs New York Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist
    Private Collection
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    Frankel, Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills, p. 71
    Respini, Cindy Sherman, pl. 47

  • Catalogue Essay

    I was mostly going for the look of European as opposed to Hollywood types… It was in European film stills that I’d find women who were more neutral, and maybe the films were harder to figure out as well. I found that more mysterious. I looked for it consciously; I didn’t want to ham it up, and I know that if I acted too happy, or too sad, or scared – if the emotional quotient was too high – the photograph would seem campy. – Cindy Sherman

  • 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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203

Untitled Film Still #61

1979
Gelatin silver print.
9 1/2 x 6 3/8 in. (24.1 x 16.2 cm)
Signed, dated and numbered 5/10 in pencil on the verso.

Estimate
$70,000 - 90,000 

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Photographs

New York Auction 1 October 2019