Following on from the first instalment in the series, this edition profiles Cindy Sherman whose work is the most successful at auction for a female photographer, and second only to Andreas Gursky. Sherman’s Untitled 96 is the third most expensive photograph to sell at auction.

Profile

Born 19th January 1954
Best known for Untitled Film Stills self-portraits.

Work

Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980)
Centrefolds (1981)
Fairytales and Disasters (1985-1989)
Sex Pictures (1992)

Influences

While studying photography in 1976 at the State University College at Buffalo, New York, Sherman engaged with the work of  Barbara Kruger, Laurie Simmons and Louise Lawler.

At Auction

Untitled 96 1981. Chromogenic colour print. Sold at Christie’s New York in May 2011: $3,890,500

Untitled Film Still 48 1979. Chromogenic colour print. Sold at Christie’s New York in May 2015: $2,965,000

Untitled 153 1985. Chromogenic colour print. Sold at Phillips New York in November 2010: $2,770,500

Untitled Film Still 48 1979. Chromogenic colour print. Sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 2014: $2,225,000

Untitled 92 1981. Chromogenic colour print. Sold at Christie’s New York in November 2013: $2,045,000

What you need to know

Cindy Sherman is primarily known for portraits of herself, dressed up in various costumes and guises, acting out a character, usually female. Her images are usually large in scale and high in colour intensity.

In the study of photography, Sherman’s work is often referenced in debates about feminism and the ‘male gaze’, her work also features in critiques about ‘blackface in contemporary art’, due to her early work Bus Riders which featured Sherman dressed as various fictitious passengers on a bus, including black people.

Other

In 2017 Sherman publically uploaded her work to Instagram, despite previously calling social media ‘so vulgar’ in a profile by the New York Times.