Cindy Sherman

Untitled Film Stills

Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills is a series of 70 black-and-white self-portraits, depicting the artist dressed up as fictional movie characters from mid-century cinema. These character types animate the gendered stereotypes commonly found in film noir, a style of crime drama popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Sherman is featured in various disguises, such as a housewife, a diva, a career woman, and a seductress. By assuming the identity of these figures, Sherman unveils the constructed nature of femininity and its associated stereotypes. With a prop, some makeup, and the right lighting, Sherman can become any one of these mythologized women portrayed by mass media. As a member of the Pictures Generation along with Robert Longo, David Salle, Barbara Kruger, Sherrie Levine, and Richard Prince, Sherman was critical about contemporary popular culture and the rise of mass consumerism. Her images prompt viewers to consider how their assumptions about the depicted characters are informed by certain visual cues and even pre-existing biases. Through her Untitled Film Series, Sherman confronts questions of originality, authenticity, and authorship. Photographing herself masquerading as these characters, Sherman takes control of the narrative. She is both the subject and the author, playing and working through issues of self-image, identity, and gender.