PHOTOGRAPHER RESEARCH
CINDY SHERMAN
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| Untitled Film Still, #27, 1979 |
'UNTITLED FILM STILLS', 1977-1980
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and filmmaker whose self-portraits offer critiques of gender and identity. What made Sherman famous is the use of her own body in roles or personas in her work, with her series Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980) being particularly important. These black-and-white photographs feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. These stereotypes included female clichés such as ‘the bored housewife’, ‘the sexy librarian’, and ‘the ambitious career girl’.
Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and filmmaker whose self-portraits offer critiques of gender and identity. What made Sherman famous is the use of her own body in roles or personas in her work, with her series Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980) being particularly important. These black-and-white photographs feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. These stereotypes included female clichés such as ‘the bored housewife’, ‘the sexy librarian’, and ‘the ambitious career girl’.
Sherman examines and
distorts femininity as a social construct – “I like making images that from a
distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you
realize what you're looking at is something totally opposite,” she reflected.
“It seems boring to me to pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is
the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It's more challenging to
look at the other side.” (Cindy Sherman, artnet.com, 2019).
Born on January 19, 1954
in Glen Ridge, NJ, the artist abandoned painting for photography while
attending the State University of New York at Buffalo, and in 1976, moved to
New York to pursue a career as a photographer. In addition to the Untitled
Film Stills series, she
has continued to explore women as subject matter, often donning elaborate
disguises in large-scale colour photographs, throughout her career (Museum of Modern Art, 2019).
Sherman’s work is
critically essential to my own idea and proposed theme for my final photographic
project. I am truly inspired by her dedication to want to capture the ‘challenging’
and ‘opposite’ sides of the stereotypes we see in media of women, at the time
of this work and in today’s society.
Her idea of a photograph
appearing at first to be one thing, and then at closer look be another, is
something I aim to incorporate when using my own female model to depict
stereotypical and hegemonic masculine traits in my photographs, through dress,
body posture, lighting and camera angle, much like Sherman.
Her work relates to other
influences on my work, in the way Sherman based her cliché representations on
those seen in Hollywood film, similar to that referred to by Laura Mulvey in
her critique of the male gaze in Hollywood film (discussed in separate blog
post).
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| Untitled Film Still, 1978 |
I am particularly inspired by
the photo above, Untitled Film Still, 1978.
At first, the viewer may
denote a successful business man reading the day's stock news after a long day
at work (by the suit, relaxed tie and lounge surroundings). It is only when
analysed further that Sherman's intentions are more clear, using herself as a
female model disguised as a man. Is this really a disguise? Or can this photo
be a challenge to what is considered masculine or feminine media type.
I will focus centrally on
this theme of blurred boundaries and restrictions between male/female,
man/woman, masculine/feminine in my own work, and plan to use a female model
dressed in a 'masculine' suit in a similar style.
All images accessed via:
Artnet (2019) Cindy Sherman.
Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/cindy-sherman/
(Accessed 01 May 2019).
Museum of Modern Art (2019)
Cindy Sherman. Available at: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/1154
(Accessed 01 May 2019).
Tate (2019) Cindy Sherman.
Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cindy-sherman-1938 (Accessed
01 May 2019).
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