Beschreibung:

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE NEW YORK COLLECTION Cindy Sherman Untitled (#88) 1981 chromogenic print 24 x 48 in. (61 x 121.9 cm) Signed, dated “Cindy Sherman 1981” and numbered of ten on the reverse. This work is from an edition of ten.
Provenance Metro Pictures, New York Exhibited New York, Metro Pictures, Cindy Sherman November – December 1981 (another example exhibited) New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Cindy Sherman July 1987. The exhibition later traveled to Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art and Dallas Museum of Art (another example exhibited) Hamburg, Deichtorhallen, Cindy Sherman Photographic Work, 1975-1995. This exhibition later traveled to Malmö Konsthall and Lucerne, Kunstmuseum, May 1995 – February 1996 (another example exhibited) Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cindy Sherman Retrospective. This exhibition later traveled to Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art; Prague, Galerie Rudofinum; London, Barbican Art Gallery; Musée d’art Contemporain de Bordeaux; Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art and Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario, November 1997 – January 2000 (another example exhibited) New York, Skarstedt Fine Art, Cindy Sherman Centerfolds, May – June 2003 (another example exhibited) Paris, Jeu de Paume, Cindy Sherman This exhibition later traveled to Kunsthaus Bregenz; Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Art and Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, May 2006 – September 2007 (another example exhibited) Literature A. Grunberg, “Cindy Sherman: A Playful and Political Post-Modernist,” New York Times, 22 November 1981 (another example illustrated) P. Schjeldahl and L. Phillips, Cindy Sherman Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1987, p. 54 (another example illustrated) Z. Felix and M. Schwander, Cindy Sherman Photographic Work, 1975-1995, London, 1995, no. 38 (another example illustrated) A. Cruz, E. Smith A. Jones, Cindy Sherman Retrospective, New York, 1997, p. 102, pl. 73 (another example illustrated) Cindy Sherman Centerfolds, Skarstedt Fine Art, New York, 2003, pp. 16-17 (another example illustrated) R. Durand, C. Tyler, J. Criqui, Cindy Sherman Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2006 (another example illustrated) Catalogue Essay The still must tease with the promise of a story the viewer of it itches to be told. (Arthur Danto, Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Stills, New York, 1990, p. 9) Cindy Sherman’s images are simultaneously terrifying and humorous, uninviting and insidiously seductive. The sole subject of her photographs is the artist herself, yet they are not self-portraits. Through variations in costume, makeup, setting, facial expression, and pose she invents a different character for each frame. Each woman has a different appearance and personality, making it difficult to believe that Cindy Sherman lies beneath the mask of each character. In effect, she operates a one woman production studio encompassing the myriad roles of director, actress, costumer, lighting specialist and cinematographer. Alluding to movies, magazines and theatre, she bequeaths the practice of photography with a scale and color comparable only to painting. The rich and dense palette that comprises her pictures suggests half-forgotten, half-remembered, and half-dreamed images. As seen in the present lot, Untitled (#88), 1981, from the Centerfolds series, the darkened background and detached expression of the subject activates a mysterious charge through its jolting objectivity and absence of authoritative reassurance. A young blonde woman hugs her exposed knees, gazing beyond the camera, past the viewer, and into the distance, with a disconcerting detachment. She is intimately close in proximity, yet her mood is not of engagement, but of clear introspection. Her hair is matted to her forehead and a scrape is evident on her knees. A red glowing light consumes her and reflects back from her large, glassy eyes. A shadow is cast across the bridge of her nose, and coupled with her contemplative gesture, it leaves only half of her face uncovered. Set within a shadowy scene, no clues to her curious circumstances are revealed; even her attire is too vague to tell a story. Captivated by her haunting expression, one feels compelled to empathize with the woman in the picture