LONDON, June 26 — The exhibition, opening tomorrow in London, explores the development of Sherman's practice from the mid-1970s to the present day.
The retrospective, curated by independent curator and writer Paul Moorhouse, brings together around 150 works spanning her 40-year career, as well as new pieces that have never been displayed in a public gallery.
Among them is Sherman's “Untitled Film Stills,” which will be presented as a whole for the first time in the UK. This series, created between 1977 and 1980, comprises 70 black-and-white photographs of Sherman embodying different personas, such as a flapper, a lonely suburban wife and a femme fatale.
These images, staged by the American artist to resemble scenes from film noir, examine a lexicon of female stereotypes.
“Cindy Sherman's art is completely distinctive. By inventing fictitious characters and photographing herself in imaginary situations, she inhabits a world of pure appearance. No other artist interrogates the illusions presented by modern culture in such a penetrating way — or scrutinises so tellingly the façades that people adopt,” said Moorhouse in a statement.
Also on show at the National Portrait Gallery is all five of Sherman's “Cover Girl” series, completed when she was a student in 1976. Other key works from the artist's most important series include “Rear Screen Projections,” “Centrefolds,” “History Portraits,” “Fairy Tales” and “Sex Pictures.”
French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's portrait of Madame Moitessier has been borrowed especially for the retrospective to be displayed alongside Sherman's version of the historic painting.
The exhibition “Cindy Sherman” will be on show at London's National Portrait Gallery from tomorrow through September 15. Tickets and additional information can be found here. — AFP-Relaxnews
