Cindy SHERMAN (born in 1954)
Intro
Cindy Sherman (born 1954) is a pivotal figure in contemporary art, renowned for her photographic self-portraits that transform her into myriad characters. Her work profoundly interrogates identity, gender performativity, and the psychological underpinnings of representation, drawing from media, film, and cultural stereotypes.
Early Life and Influences
Sherman grew up in a suburban Long Island family as the youngest of five children. She described her childhood as sheltered and somewhat lonely, immersed in television, films, and advertising—these media forms became foundational to her artistic vocabulary. This environment fostered an early fascination with disguise and role-playing, which she later channeled into her art. While her parents showed little interest in the arts, Sherman pursued studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo, initially in painting before shifting to photography as a more conceptual tool.
Key Themes in Her Art
Sherman's oeuvre is not traditional self-portraiture; she insists her images are not revelations of a "real" self but constructions that expose how identity is performed and mediated. Influenced by postmodern theory, including Judith Butler's concept of gender as performative (a series of repeated acts creating the illusion of essence), Sherman's transformations highlight the fluidity and artificiality of identity. She embodies stereotypes—housewives, seductresses, socialites, clowns—to critique societal expectations, particularly around femininity.Her breakthrough series, Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), consists of black-and-white photographs mimicking mid-20th-century film tropes. Sherman poses as archetypal women (e.g., the vulnerable ingenue or career girl), evoking ambiguity and vulnerability without referencing specific movies.
These images provoke psychological unease by positioning the viewer as a voyeur, confronting the male gaze and the objectification of women in media.
Later series delve deeper into the psyche:
Psychological Insights
From a psychological perspective, Sherman's work can be viewed as an exploration of the fragmented self in a media-saturated society. Her refusal to present an authentic "Cindy Sherman" aligns with postmodern ideas of the decentered subject—no fixed core identity exists, only performances shaped by cultural scripts. This evokes Lacanian notions of the mirror stage and the constructed ego, or Freudian concepts of the uncanny in her grotesque series.
Her disguises may reflect a personal strategy for navigating identity: as the "latecomer" in her family, childhood dress-up allowed multiplicity ("If you don't like me this way, how about this?"). Critics note her work addresses anxieties about the self's status, often with empathy amid critique—characters appear tragic, vulnerable, or absurd, mirroring universal insecurities around gender, aging, and social roles.
Sherman's art anticipates digital-era phenomena like selfies and filters, where identity is endlessly curated. Psychologically, it underscores the tension between authenticity and artifice, inviting viewers to confront their own performative identities. Her enduring relevance lies in this mirror: disturbing yet illuminating the constructed nature of the psyche in visual culture.
Early Life and Influences
Sherman grew up in a suburban Long Island family as the youngest of five children. She described her childhood as sheltered and somewhat lonely, immersed in television, films, and advertising—these media forms became foundational to her artistic vocabulary. This environment fostered an early fascination with disguise and role-playing, which she later channeled into her art. While her parents showed little interest in the arts, Sherman pursued studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo, initially in painting before shifting to photography as a more conceptual tool.
Key Themes in Her Art
Sherman's oeuvre is not traditional self-portraiture; she insists her images are not revelations of a "real" self but constructions that expose how identity is performed and mediated. Influenced by postmodern theory, including Judith Butler's concept of gender as performative (a series of repeated acts creating the illusion of essence), Sherman's transformations highlight the fluidity and artificiality of identity. She embodies stereotypes—housewives, seductresses, socialites, clowns—to critique societal expectations, particularly around femininity.Her breakthrough series, Untitled Film Stills (1977–1980), consists of black-and-white photographs mimicking mid-20th-century film tropes. Sherman poses as archetypal women (e.g., the vulnerable ingenue or career girl), evoking ambiguity and vulnerability without referencing specific movies.
These images provoke psychological unease by positioning the viewer as a voyeur, confronting the male gaze and the objectification of women in media.
Later series delve deeper into the psyche:
- Fairy Tales (1985) and Disasters (1986–1989) explore the grotesque and repressed, using prosthetics to evoke horror and the abject.
- Clowns (2003–2004) uses exaggerated makeup to mask vulnerability, blending humor with pathos.
- Society Portraits (2008) portray aging high-society women, revealing anxieties about status, beauty, and mortality beneath polished facades.
Psychological Insights
From a psychological perspective, Sherman's work can be viewed as an exploration of the fragmented self in a media-saturated society. Her refusal to present an authentic "Cindy Sherman" aligns with postmodern ideas of the decentered subject—no fixed core identity exists, only performances shaped by cultural scripts. This evokes Lacanian notions of the mirror stage and the constructed ego, or Freudian concepts of the uncanny in her grotesque series.
Her disguises may reflect a personal strategy for navigating identity: as the "latecomer" in her family, childhood dress-up allowed multiplicity ("If you don't like me this way, how about this?"). Critics note her work addresses anxieties about the self's status, often with empathy amid critique—characters appear tragic, vulnerable, or absurd, mirroring universal insecurities around gender, aging, and social roles.
Sherman's art anticipates digital-era phenomena like selfies and filters, where identity is endlessly curated. Psychologically, it underscores the tension between authenticity and artifice, inviting viewers to confront their own performative identities. Her enduring relevance lies in this mirror: disturbing yet illuminating the constructed nature of the psyche in visual culture.
Untitled Film Still
1
1977-1980 Collection of 21 photos
2014 SOLD for $ 6.8M by Christie's
Photography and cinema are lies. Cindy Sherman began her series of Untitled Film Stills in 1977, aged 23. She is not an actress and her photos are not linked to any movie. However, she is directly inspired by European cinema : Hitchcock, Bardot, Loren.
Her only theme is herself in ever changing situations that are not related to her real life. After the first group of views, she changes her face, her hair, her age. On each image, she is alone. The gaze is more or less in complicity with the voyeur. When she closes the series in 1980, she had achieved a remarkable overview of the life of any modern young woman.
The edition of the Untitled Film Stills is in black and white 25 x 20 cm with a maximum of ten prints per view. Twenty one photos from a collection were sold together for $ 6.8M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 13. All of them are from the smaller size editions of ten copies.
This group ranges from # 2 to 83, providing an excellent demonstration of the variety in the series : private interiors of 1977, New York, holidays, as well as funny or tragic images such as with the diving mask or the swollen eye. View # 48 is the much beloved hitchhiker.
Her only theme is herself in ever changing situations that are not related to her real life. After the first group of views, she changes her face, her hair, her age. On each image, she is alone. The gaze is more or less in complicity with the voyeur. When she closes the series in 1980, she had achieved a remarkable overview of the life of any modern young woman.
The edition of the Untitled Film Stills is in black and white 25 x 20 cm with a maximum of ten prints per view. Twenty one photos from a collection were sold together for $ 6.8M by Christie's on November 12, 2014, lot 13. All of them are from the smaller size editions of ten copies.
This group ranges from # 2 to 83, providing an excellent demonstration of the variety in the series : private interiors of 1977, New York, holidays, as well as funny or tragic images such as with the diving mask or the swollen eye. View # 48 is the much beloved hitchhiker.
2
1978 # 13
2025 SOLD for $ 2.27M by Sotheby's
The Untitled Film Still # 13 in a silver print 40 x 30 inches number 2/3 dated 1978 and signed was sold for $ 2.27M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Christie's on November 19, 2025, lot 2B. The artist is raising her arm to catch a book in a shelf while looking upwards to another side.
This portrait appears as second in popularity at auction after the # 48. The one of one 1978 16 x 20 inch print of the # 13 was sold by Christie's for $ 900K on September 9, 2008, lot 97.
Asking Grok to compare the # 13 sold by Christie's on November 19, 2025, lot 2B with the # 48 sold by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 64 B :
Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills series (1977–1980) consists of 69 black-and-white gelatin silver prints that satirize cinematic stereotypes of women, drawing from film noir, B-movies, and European art cinema. Both works are key entries, but differ in scale, edition, narrative focus, and auction dynamics. The #13 sale occurred during Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale in New York on November 19, 2025, from the Edlis-Neeson collection. The #48 sale was at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale in New York on May 13, 2015.
Description
Sherman, dressed in a simple blouse and skirt, reaches for a book on a library shelf, evoking a studious young woman in a moment of quiet introspection. The image subverts tropes of intellectual femininity with subtle unease. Dimensions: 30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm.)
Auction Context
Part of a $124 million sale; strong bidding for large-format edition from a prestigious collection, emphasizing demand for accessible yet rare series entries
Market Implications
As a large editioned print, it traded at a premium relative to smaller uniques, reflecting collector appetite for "monumental" formats in Sherman's oeuvre
Key Insights
This portrait appears as second in popularity at auction after the # 48. The one of one 1978 16 x 20 inch print of the # 13 was sold by Christie's for $ 900K on September 9, 2008, lot 97.
Asking Grok to compare the # 13 sold by Christie's on November 19, 2025, lot 2B with the # 48 sold by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 64 B :
Cindy Sherman's Untitled Film Stills series (1977–1980) consists of 69 black-and-white gelatin silver prints that satirize cinematic stereotypes of women, drawing from film noir, B-movies, and European art cinema. Both works are key entries, but differ in scale, edition, narrative focus, and auction dynamics. The #13 sale occurred during Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale in New York on November 19, 2025, from the Edlis-Neeson collection. The #48 sale was at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale in New York on May 13, 2015.
Description
Sherman, dressed in a simple blouse and skirt, reaches for a book on a library shelf, evoking a studious young woman in a moment of quiet introspection. The image subverts tropes of intellectual femininity with subtle unease. Dimensions: 30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm.)
Auction Context
Part of a $124 million sale; strong bidding for large-format edition from a prestigious collection, emphasizing demand for accessible yet rare series entries
Market Implications
As a large editioned print, it traded at a premium relative to smaller uniques, reflecting collector appetite for "monumental" formats in Sherman's oeuvre
Key Insights
- Similarities: Both are large-format (30 × 40 in.) gelatin silver prints from the Untitled Film Stills core, critiquing female archetypes (#13: the "intellectual loner"; #48: the "vulnerable drifter"). They realized multimillion-dollar totals, underscoring Sherman's market resilience—her series has appreciated steadily, with peaks over $4 million.
- Differences: Now matched in scale, #13's urban, intimate domesticity contrasts #48's epic, anonymous landscape, influencing their cultural reads (#48 often hailed as the series' most "iconic" by critics like John Waters). The 2015 #48 edged higher absolutely, but adjusted for ~25% inflation (2015–2025), its $2.965 million equates to ~$3.7 million today—making the 2025 #13 a stronger relative performer at $2.27 million, buoyed by Edlis-Neeson provenance despite being edition 2/3 vs. #48's 1/3.
- Broader Context: Demand for Sherman endures, with 2025 signaling sustained interest in scalable formats for institutional/display purposes. No market softening evident post-2025 sale.
3
1979 # 48 30 x 40 inches The Hitchhiker
2015 SOLD for $ 2.96M by Christie's
The series Untitled Film Stills by Cindy Sherman offers the game of the young woman, director and sole subject of this set in a full range of attitudes. The picture numbered 48, however, is different.
The photo nicknamed The hitchhiker by her author was taken in 1979 during a holiday in Arizona. It impresses in its mystery. The woman is alone on a road in the countryside. Who is she? Why is she at this place? Where would she like to go?
She has turned for watching the empty horizon with her trunk behind her for a long time. Her long skirt and flat shoes are outdated. The black and white increases the drama, like in Hitchcock: is her hair blond or white?
Under the thick clouds, shadows invade the valley of an unidentified river. If it is dawn, there is hope. If it is twilight, what can happen to this solitary woman? Cindy understands the role of the subconscious in her creative act. Inspired by cinema, she knows that she reconstructs the tragic fate of fragile women who are watched, followed and threatened.
# 48 was edited in 1979 in 10 copies in format 20 x 25 cm. The number 5/10 was sold for $ 1,56M by Christie's on November 12, 2013. The number 2/10 was a highlight within the lot of 21 Untitled Film Stills that sold for $ 6.8 M in 2014, also at Christie's.
In the same year, 1979, it was also edited in 3 large format copies 76 x 102 cm (30 x 40 inches). The number 1/3 was sold for $ 2.96M by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 64 B.
Description of the # 48 by Grok :
Sherman, in a long coat and boots, stands with her back to the viewer on a vast desert highway in Arizona (dubbed "The Hitchhiker"), thumb extended, gazing into the distance. The anonymous pose amplifies vulnerability and isolation against the expansive landscape. Dimensions: 30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm.)
The 2015 sale established #48 as one of Sherman's top sellers; its scale and narrative power command higher prices, with this sale among the highest for the series at the time.
The photo nicknamed The hitchhiker by her author was taken in 1979 during a holiday in Arizona. It impresses in its mystery. The woman is alone on a road in the countryside. Who is she? Why is she at this place? Where would she like to go?
She has turned for watching the empty horizon with her trunk behind her for a long time. Her long skirt and flat shoes are outdated. The black and white increases the drama, like in Hitchcock: is her hair blond or white?
Under the thick clouds, shadows invade the valley of an unidentified river. If it is dawn, there is hope. If it is twilight, what can happen to this solitary woman? Cindy understands the role of the subconscious in her creative act. Inspired by cinema, she knows that she reconstructs the tragic fate of fragile women who are watched, followed and threatened.
# 48 was edited in 1979 in 10 copies in format 20 x 25 cm. The number 5/10 was sold for $ 1,56M by Christie's on November 12, 2013. The number 2/10 was a highlight within the lot of 21 Untitled Film Stills that sold for $ 6.8 M in 2014, also at Christie's.
In the same year, 1979, it was also edited in 3 large format copies 76 x 102 cm (30 x 40 inches). The number 1/3 was sold for $ 2.96M by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 64 B.
Description of the # 48 by Grok :
Sherman, in a long coat and boots, stands with her back to the viewer on a vast desert highway in Arizona (dubbed "The Hitchhiker"), thumb extended, gazing into the distance. The anonymous pose amplifies vulnerability and isolation against the expansive landscape. Dimensions: 30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm.)
The 2015 sale established #48 as one of Sherman's top sellers; its scale and narrative power command higher prices, with this sale among the highest for the series at the time.
4
1979 # 48 16 x 20 inches The Hitchhiker
2014 SOLD for $ 2.2M by Sotheby's
Also printed in 1979, the number 3/3 from an edition of three in gelatin silver print mid size format 16 x 20 inches (40 x 50 cm) was sold for $ 2.2M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2014, lot 5.
# 48 was edited in 1979 in 10 copies in format 20 x 25 cm. The number 5/10 was sold for $ 1,56M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 60.
# 48 was edited in 1979 in 10 copies in format 20 x 25 cm. The number 5/10 was sold for $ 1,56M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 60.
1981 Centerfolds
1
# 96 10/10
2011 SOLD for $ 3.9M by Christie's
Cindy Sherman is the only subject of her art, yet she deals with the modern woman in her entirety. Her photos can be grouped in series, but they are all different, for clothing, makeup, location, action, psychology, design.
From 1977 to 1980, the thread was the Film Still as a parody of movie photos in black and white.
Working in color for the first time in 1981, she created the Centerfolds series for a project of Artforum magazine. This set of twelve images 60 x 120 cm is inspired by the photographs published in the center pages of magazines of fashion or charm such as Playboy.
She plays various attitudes and emotions, alone in close up views with a limited surrounding. She thus manages a feminist counterattack against the low level cliched imagery of women in men's magazines while not taking away a female vulnerability.
In the opus referenced # 96 by Metro Pictures, the young woman daydreams, evasively crumpling a sheet of classifieds for singles. Lying on her back with a bent leg on a Formica floor, she is dressed in colored skirt and pullover like a gentle teenage girl. This simple image provides a deep feeling of contemporary adolescent privacy.
The copy 10/10 of # 96 was sold for $ 3.9M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 6.
From 1977 to 1980, the thread was the Film Still as a parody of movie photos in black and white.
Working in color for the first time in 1981, she created the Centerfolds series for a project of Artforum magazine. This set of twelve images 60 x 120 cm is inspired by the photographs published in the center pages of magazines of fashion or charm such as Playboy.
She plays various attitudes and emotions, alone in close up views with a limited surrounding. She thus manages a feminist counterattack against the low level cliched imagery of women in men's magazines while not taking away a female vulnerability.
In the opus referenced # 96 by Metro Pictures, the young woman daydreams, evasively crumpling a sheet of classifieds for singles. Lying on her back with a bent leg on a Formica floor, she is dressed in colored skirt and pullover like a gentle teenage girl. This simple image provides a deep feeling of contemporary adolescent privacy.
The copy 10/10 of # 96 was sold for $ 3.9M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2011, lot 6.
2
# 96 7/10
2012 SOLD for $ 2.9M by Christie's
The copy 7/10 of # 96 was sold by Christie's for $ 2.9M on May 8, 2012 , lot 10, and for $ 2.07M on November 9, 2021, lot 11A.
3
# 93 4/10
2014 SOLD for $ 3.9M by Sotheby's
# 93 is a plunging view down to the reclining blonde woman, like the # 96.
She is in an old fashioned night attire under dark bed sheets but does not sleep. A spot on the cheek looks like a tear drop. The artist denied that she originally wanted to express for the voyeurs the distress of a young woman after a sex assault but she accepted such an interpretation.
The copy 4/10 of # 93 was sold for $ 3.9M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2014, lot 12.
She is in an old fashioned night attire under dark bed sheets but does not sleep. A spot on the cheek looks like a tear drop. The artist denied that she originally wanted to express for the voyeurs the distress of a young woman after a sex assault but she accepted such an interpretation.
The copy 4/10 of # 93 was sold for $ 3.9M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Sotheby's on May 13, 2014, lot 12.
4
# 93 2/10
2021 SOLD for $ 3.15M by Christie's
The 2/10 of # 93 was sold for $ 3.15M by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 12A.
5
# 92 8/10
2007 SOLD for $ 2.1M by Christie's
The opus # 92 is a chilling scream against the female condition. The young woman in schoolgirl blouse and skirt endeavors to raise her body on her hands after falling on a dirty wood floor. The anxious gaze reveals that she faces an enemy or a danger, possibly a torturer.
The copy 8/10 was sold for $ 2.1M from a lower estimate of $ 700K by Christie's on May 16, 2007, lot 73. The copy 9/10 of # 92 was sold for $ 2.05M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 10.
The copy 6/10 of # 92 was sold for $ 1.6M by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 13A.
In # 88 the crouching woman is facing some ordeal with a gaze of great terror, protecting herself by a hand in the mouth, her face violently lit in a deep dark surrounding. The copy 1/10 was sold for $ 1.43M from a lower estimate of $ 400K by Christie's on November 10, 2010, lot 58. An # 88 was sold for $ 1.3M by Phillips de Pury on November 7, 2011, lot 17.
The copy 8/10 was sold for $ 2.1M from a lower estimate of $ 700K by Christie's on May 16, 2007, lot 73. The copy 9/10 of # 92 was sold for $ 2.05M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 10.
The copy 6/10 of # 92 was sold for $ 1.6M by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 13A.
In # 88 the crouching woman is facing some ordeal with a gaze of great terror, protecting herself by a hand in the mouth, her face violently lit in a deep dark surrounding. The copy 1/10 was sold for $ 1.43M from a lower estimate of $ 400K by Christie's on November 10, 2010, lot 58. An # 88 was sold for $ 1.3M by Phillips de Pury on November 7, 2011, lot 17.
1985 Fairy Tales # 153 5/6
2010 SOLD for $ 2.77M by Phillips de Pury
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.
The copy 5/6 was sold for $ 2,77M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Phillips de Pury on November 8, 2010, lot 14.. The 2/6 passed at Sotheby's on May 12, 2015, 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.
The copy 5/6 was sold for $ 2,77M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Phillips de Pury on November 8, 2010, lot 14.. The 2/6 passed at Sotheby's on May 12, 2015, lot 54.
