Technically, the photographic art of Cindy Sherman marks the transition between black-and-white and color soon processed in very large size. Her self-portraits with makeup bring an overall picture of the women, first with the gently misfit scenes of the Untitled Film Stills and then with the close-ups of the Centerfolds.
The editor who had commissioned the Centerfolds in 1981 did not dare publishing them in his magazine. Cindy Sherman is a great artist who knows how to disturb with such portraits in commonplace positions of a reclining woman falsely offered or falsely vulnerable.
History repeated itself in 1985 with the Fairy Tales series for another patron. Cindy laughed with the horrors invented by her, as Kafka had done. There are no literary references despite the title of the series.
Untitled 153 is one of the most powerful images in Sherman's Fairy Tales. Since the early days of photography, death fascinates the viewers, whether it is real or staged. 153 is a great following from such long term prolific ambiguity.
The head looks like a stone bust lying on the mossy ground of a park that has begun to stain it. The pale makeup is perfect, and its impression is reinforced by the fixed gaze and by the shaggy wig whose mechanism is visible at the top of the forehead.
153 was published in chromogenic color prints 171 x 126 cm in six copies plus one artist's proof. Five are now in museums, and the other two contribute to the history of auction.
No. 5/6 was sold for $ 2,77M including premium by Phillips on November 8, 2010, a very high price for a photograph at that time. The number 2/6 is estimated $ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 12, lot 54.
The editor who had commissioned the Centerfolds in 1981 did not dare publishing them in his magazine. Cindy Sherman is a great artist who knows how to disturb with such portraits in commonplace positions of a reclining woman falsely offered or falsely vulnerable.
History repeated itself in 1985 with the Fairy Tales series for another patron. Cindy laughed with the horrors invented by her, as Kafka had done. There are no literary references despite the title of the series.
Untitled 153 is one of the most powerful images in Sherman's Fairy Tales. Since the early days of photography, death fascinates the viewers, whether it is real or staged. 153 is a great following from such long term prolific ambiguity.
The head looks like a stone bust lying on the mossy ground of a park that has begun to stain it. The pale makeup is perfect, and its impression is reinforced by the fixed gaze and by the shaggy wig whose mechanism is visible at the top of the forehead.
153 was published in chromogenic color prints 171 x 126 cm in six copies plus one artist's proof. Five are now in museums, and the other two contribute to the history of auction.
No. 5/6 was sold for $ 2,77M including premium by Phillips on November 8, 2010, a very high price for a photograph at that time. The number 2/6 is estimated $ 2M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on May 12, lot 54.
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