Cindy Sherman

Term Paper # 106434

Cindy Sherman

An exploration of the the use of photography and its ability to portray realism in contemporary figure art with a focus on the work of Cindy Sherman.

1,808 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2003 France

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how American artist Cindy Sherman, who began to work on the famous series "Untitled Film Stills" at the end of 1977, stages mediated images of women through shot, costume, pose and situation, embodying a vast number of characters herself. It looks at how, through the medium of photography Sherman both captures realistic images and transforms herself according to her wishes. It also discusses, with reference to Sherman's work, whether photography is used as an artifice in representing the human figure and how, ultimately can photography can portray realism.

From the Paper:

"The work by Cindy Sherman is, above all, based on different artistic forms; among them is film, theatre, and painting, especially portraits. When we first look at Untitled Film Stills, we are con fronted with some simulations of scenes from Hollywood. Just as with any film still, performance is at the heart of the images. Arthur Danto, indeed, attributes their success as being "simultaneously and inseparately photographs and performances." Sherman's photographs are not only photographic records of performances but, inversely, "performative accounts of filmic images." For instance, in Untitled #21 in which a young woman is seen against huge urban buildings, the city is a part of a film scenery, which is there to echo the woman's expression of urban attitude. The outside world similarly establishes for Sherman's characters a unity of place and time and an ambience which defines their individual role. However, these characters, which all come from old B movies and film noir, are pre sented more as types rather than as individuals. "