.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Throughout her career, Cindy Sherman has transformed herself into a multitude of characters in a profound exploration of the female identity and its representation in media culture. Playing all parts in creating her photographs, Sherman acts as model, stylist, set designer, and photographer, crafting each detail to fit with her vision.
In her celebrated Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) Sherman exposed the stereotype of the female as the object of the male desire through a series of black and white photographs of herself modeled as a character in a B-movie. Later, through the Centerfolds series in 1981, Sherman used the format of double page photo spreads from adult magazines to depict scenes that, rather than showing the expected sensuality called for by centerfold layout, underscored the vulnerability of the subjects. In Untitled #138, Sherman takes on the fashion industry.
Untitled #138 belongs to Sherman's Fashion series, originally commissioned a French fashion company, Dorothe Bis, which enlisted Sherman to photograph its clothing for French Vogue. However, quickly growing disenchanted with the assignment, Sherman instead turned the project into a rejection of the ideal of fashion and beauty.
Untitled #138 portrays Sherman sitting languidly on a steel chair against a cold black background. She wears a designer outfit but her posture is slouched, shoulders hunched, breasts sagging, arms hanging limply at her side - the opposite of the conventional pose of a fashion model. Behind her shines a bright white light, perhaps a hint of glamour. But she sits with her back to it, and instead faces an eerie yellow-green light which casts a grotesque shadow over her face and body. She is smiling, but it is a peculiar smirk that reveals yellowed crooked teeth. Sherman's hands are resting on her lap with the palms turned upward, showing the red tips of her fingers. One assumes at first glance that her nails are painted a bright, blood red, but upon closer examination it becomes frighteningly evident that it is her fingers that are in fact stained with blood red. The resulting image is not an idyllic fashion model, but an awkward, unsettling, even psychotic character.
In Untitled #138 Sherman challenges the appeal and glamour of fashion images and by creating this theatrical, mysterious and manic character reveals a critique of the fashion industry. Although the performance aspect of Sherman's works creates a self-contained theatricality of make-up, costumes and props the end result is a powerful outward manifest of social critique.
In her celebrated Untitled Film Stills (1977-80) Sherman exposed the stereotype of the female as the object of the male desire through a series of black and white photographs of herself modeled as a character in a B-movie. Later, through the Centerfolds series in 1981, Sherman used the format of double page photo spreads from adult magazines to depict scenes that, rather than showing the expected sensuality called for by centerfold layout, underscored the vulnerability of the subjects. In Untitled #138, Sherman takes on the fashion industry.
Untitled #138 belongs to Sherman's Fashion series, originally commissioned a French fashion company, Dorothe Bis, which enlisted Sherman to photograph its clothing for French Vogue. However, quickly growing disenchanted with the assignment, Sherman instead turned the project into a rejection of the ideal of fashion and beauty.
Untitled #138 portrays Sherman sitting languidly on a steel chair against a cold black background. She wears a designer outfit but her posture is slouched, shoulders hunched, breasts sagging, arms hanging limply at her side - the opposite of the conventional pose of a fashion model. Behind her shines a bright white light, perhaps a hint of glamour. But she sits with her back to it, and instead faces an eerie yellow-green light which casts a grotesque shadow over her face and body. She is smiling, but it is a peculiar smirk that reveals yellowed crooked teeth. Sherman's hands are resting on her lap with the palms turned upward, showing the red tips of her fingers. One assumes at first glance that her nails are painted a bright, blood red, but upon closer examination it becomes frighteningly evident that it is her fingers that are in fact stained with blood red. The resulting image is not an idyllic fashion model, but an awkward, unsettling, even psychotic character.
In Untitled #138 Sherman challenges the appeal and glamour of fashion images and by creating this theatrical, mysterious and manic character reveals a critique of the fashion industry. Although the performance aspect of Sherman's works creates a self-contained theatricality of make-up, costumes and props the end result is a powerful outward manifest of social critique.