Have you ever seen a set of black-and-white photographs in which the model seems to be the same person, either dressing in retro, or wearing a variety of female dresses that are visible in the US and Europe, leaving an inadvertent expression in front of the camera? Have you ever seen a set of color photos with women in sexy poses but look at you with fear scared eyes, let the audience be pleased by the poses but initially feel disturbed? All these works are photographed by the American important female photographer, artist and film director Cindy Sherman.
Cindy Sherman's conceptual portrait series of photographs, are known for recreating the roles and mental states of women in various Western societies, is an important presence in the history of post-modern photography. Being the only model in her photography, she produces the whole shooting process by herself, letting the work show femininity yet revealing the social phenomena that satisfy the male senses, such as desire and sex, challenging the concept of male superiority and female humiliation under social norms. Her photography successfully broke the stereotype of what women should be that formed by the society and media. She loves to collect old-fashioned clothing and jewelry and dressing up her own ever since her universities times, and these experiences make her work with ease. Although she claims herself not a feminist, her work does boldly question the positioning of female characters in all walks of life and ridicule the patriarchal society that throughout the ages.
Cindy Sherman was born in New Jersey, USA in 1954 and grew up in New York. With the support of her parents, Cindy Sherman studied painting at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She began to learn about conceptual art under the guidance of the photography teacher during the the compulsory photography introduction class, which aroused her great interest. From then on, she began her journey with conceptual photography. During her studies, Cindy Sherman and his classmates co-founded a small gallery called Hallwalls, where she began to publish her own conceptual photography. The role-playing photography began to sprout from this period. In 1977, Cindy Sherman moved to New York City with her boyfriend Robert Longo after she graduated.
Cindy Sherman's photography played such an important role in contemporary photography history is because her work suggests a reflection of the female role in today's society. The black and white photos series "Untitled Film Still" created in 1977 provides a space of imagination to the audience by a Hollywood movie scene-like background and the variety of emotions expressed by the model in the photos. The "Centerfolds" series which launched in 1981, captures the perspective of men watching sexy erotic objects while reading erotic magazines. The frightened eyes of women in the photos reflect their uneasiness and fear of being "appreciated". The same theme is also reflected in the "Sex" series in 1989 and the "Untitled" series in 1990. The "Disaster" series sublimates the issue of female physical abuse into a more horrific narrative.
In 1988, Cindy Sherman played her best in the "History Portrait" series, turning herself into a figure in art history paintings, exploring the ways in which art history portraits are expressed, as well as the relationship between painters and models. 30 years later, Cindy Sherman launched another series of "Society Portrait", which is ridiculed by the portraits of ladies in high-ranking socialites under the financial turmoil of 2008, indicating the end of the era of contemporary affluent era. Cindy Sherman is also known as a female pioneer of pop art because her works always inspired from popular social culture and historical elements.
Cindy Sherman also maintains good relationship with American fashion and celebrity social circle. In 1997, her solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) was fully sponsored by Hollywood film star Madonna. Cindy Sherman's preference for the film is also reflected in her directed film "Office Killer" in 1997, in which she fully exerted her capability of controlling the narrative of film screen.
The importance of Cindy Sherman’s photography to the history of contemporary photography and its popularity in the art market are apparent. In 1995, New York MoMA acquired all 69 black-and-white photos of the "Untitled Film Still" series for $1 million, creating a milestone in the acquisition of photographic works by academic institutions. In 2011, at the Christie's auction in New York, “Untitled No. 96 (Untitled #96)” created a single photography transaction of $3.890 million, making it the highest transaction record for photography at the time. Today, Cindy Sherman is still energetic and active in the art world.
This year, a large retrospective exhibition of Cindy Sherman is held in Shanghai, China. This is her first time to launch retrospective exhibition in China. This large retrospective exhibition features 128 groups of Cindy Sherman's photographic representative works in different historical periods and different series, shows a panoramic review of Cindy Sherman's artistic creation career for more than 40 years. The exhibition also showcases the shooting props, related literature and video materials that Cindy Sherman used during her creation. In addition, it is worth expecting that the 9 new works created by Cindy Sherman in 2018 will also be exposed at this retrospective exhibition.
Cindy Sherman’s First Solo Exhibition in China
Exhibition Date：7 Novemebr 2018 – 13 January 2019
Venue：Fosun Foundation Shanghai
Price：$100RMB
Figure 1：Cindy Sherman, Untitled #85, Centerfolds series, 1981 © MoMA
Figure 2：Cindy Sherman, Untitled #199, History Portrait series, 1989 © MoMA
