Cindy Sherman: Retrospective

This comprehensive catalogue traces the career of Cindy Sherman, examining her achievements as one of the leading American artists of our time. Renowned for her exploration of the construction of female identity, Sherman creates staged and manipulated photographs that draw upon the imagery of popular culture and art history. Her art embodies two of the most crucial developments in the art world in the last decade: the impact of postmodern theory on the practice of art, and the rise of photography and mass-media techniques as powerful modes of artistic expression. In her work she often assumes multiple roles, from B-movie starlet to shy schoolgirl, in order to create images that provoke, unsettle, and engage us. Essayists Amada Cruz, Amelia Jones, and Elizabeth Smith offer keen insight and observation from several distinct vantage points, positioning Sherman's work within the trajectory of feminist art history as well as revealing her influence on the art of the last two decades of the twentieth century. More than two hundred color images show the breadth of Sherman's body of work, from the Untitled Film Stills of the 1970s, to series such as Centerfolds, Fashion, Disasters, Fairy Tales, and History Portraits. This volume provides thought-provoking commentary and imagery, furthering our understanding of this extraordinary artist's work and ideas.