Cindy Sherman

Jacob Cavenee

Art 177-Photography

Professor Pease

4 April 2016

Cindy Sherman

Untitled

            Cindy Sherman was born on January 19, 1954 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Sherman was raised in Huntington, Long Island. Being the youngest of five children, Sherman’s parents were not totally interested in the arts (The Art Story). Sherman enrolled to Buffalo State College, starting off with her regular studio courses such as drawing, painting and photography (Art History Archive). Sherman initially failed her required photography class because of difficulties with the subject’s technical side, and decided to focus on her major of painting (Art History Archive). Eventually Sherman studied photography with a different instructor, Professor Revelle, who inspired her to “Just take pictures” (Art History Archive). After some help from her new professor, Sherman finally found a spark inside of her that found the immediacy of photography more exciting than her original painting major. Sherman graduated in 1976 and moved to New York to further her career (cindysherman.com).

Feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities (Merriam-Webster.com). “The work is what it is and hopefully it’s seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I’m not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff” (Berne). While Sherman’s work displays feminist messages and women stereotypes, she doesn’t officially think of herself as a feminist. Sherman’s photography techniques rely on the unusualness of her photographs. Sherman models in all of her photos that display a certain attitude, character, emotion, and message (Bright Hub). Her talent is not based on the technical aspects of photography but on the artistic products of the camera (Bright Hub). Some of Sherman’s influences are; Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Andres Serrano, Catherine Opie, John Waters, and the postmodern art movement (The Art Story). Cindy Sherman is still producing her unique brand of photographic art. The average selling price of her photographs is $50,000 (Bright Hub). But, her film stills were priced at nearly $200,000 (Bright Hub). In 2011, Sherman’s “Untitled #96” from 1981, was auctioned off for 3.89 million dollars (Zhang). I think that it’s amazing that her photography is sold for so much money. It’s crazy that people will pay that much money for a photograph, but also inspiring that photographers work can receive that much praise and sell for a lot of money. Sherman uses herself as a prop because “I also realized that I myself don’t know exactly what I want from a picture, so it’s hard to articulate that to somebody else-anybody else. When I’m doing it myself, I’m really just using the mirror to summon something I don’t even know until I see it.” (Berne). “I feel I’m anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren’t self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear. Everyone thinks these are self-portraits but they aren’t meant to be. I just use myself as a model because I know I can push myself to extremes, make each shot as ugly or goofy or silly as possible.” (The Art Story).

Untitled #96

Film Still #14

(All photos from cindysherman.com)

Works Citied

"Cindy Sherman Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." The Art Story. The Art Story, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"Cindy Sherman." Cindy Sherman - The Art History Archive. Art History Archive, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"Biography - Cindy Sherman - Photographer, Model, Director, Actor, Avant-Garde Images, Doll Parts and Prosthetics, Movies." Biography - Cindy Sherman. Cindysherman.com, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"Feminism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster.com, n.d. Web. 1 Apr. 2016.

Berne, Betsy. "Studio: Cindy Sherman." Studio: Cindy Sherman. Tate Magazine, 1 June 2003. Web. 01 Apr. 2016.

"A Brief Biography of Cindy Sherman & Photographs Taken by Cindy Sherman." Bright Hub. Bright Hub, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.

Zhang, Michael. "Cindy Sherman Photograph Sells for $3.8 Million, Setting New Record." Php Bloginfoname RSS. Peta Pixel, 12 May 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.