- 355
Cindy Sherman
Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 GBP
bidding is closed
Description
- Cindy Sherman
- Untitled #419
- signed, numbered 4/6 and dated 2004 on a label affixed to the backing board
- colour photograph
- image: 168 by 123.5cm.; 66 1/4 by 48 5/8 in.
- framed: 171 by 128cm.; 67 3/8 by 50 3/8 in.
Provenance
Metro Pictures, New York
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2004
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2004
Literature
Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Jeu de Paume; Bregenz, Kunsthaus Bregenz; Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art; Berlin, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Cindy Sherman, 2006-7, pp. 221 and 269, illustrated in colour
Condition
Colour:
The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is lighter in the original.
Condition:
This work is in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Cindy Sherman explores nuances in the identities of others by embodying the role of both artist and subject in her pictures. Through performative acts of reinvention, Sherman views herself and allows herself to be viewed from an external perspective - self-imposing a critical examination of identity and representation which resonates with the viewer's own conception of self.
Sherman has often denied trying to represent her own identity through her portraits - and she explains about the Clown series: "I'm interested in what I imagine about the person who's made up as a clown. The greatest challenge for me was to allow a personality to emerge from behind the clown make-up: a personality that has nothing to do with my own... I wanted in a way to find something behind the make-up, something that shimmers through" (Cindy Sherman quoted in: Maik Schülter, Cindy Sherman: Clowns, Hanover 2004, p. 54).
Although the Clown series might not reflect Sherman's personal emotions, the subject of this series intimates a parallel to her body of work as a whole, or even herself as an artist. In veiling their identities with dramatic, humorous and somewhat sinister disguises, the clowns appear as more than colourful and poetic motifs, but as Sherman's ironic, reflexive reinvention of the self, by the self; indeed as Eva Respini, curator of Sherman's 2012 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, has described this series , 'the clown can be seen as a stand-in for the artist, who is expected to entertain in the contemporary circus of society' (Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cindy Sherman, 2012, p. 45).
Untitled #419 is a revealing and complex work; the artist adorns a loose body suit with conical breasts and triangular felt pudenda alluding to feminist discourses on body image, identity and aspects of performance in gender. Sherman invokes a multilayered reading of the work, the figure at once appearing childlike and adult, with further subtleties arising in the clown's elusive expression and the playful representation of nudity which cleverly tread a line between abasement and innocence.
The background of the Untitled #419, rendered in Photoshop, is wonderfully dilettante which augments the overall naivety of the work. It’s simplicity focuses our attention on the central figure, accentuating her representation of identity and expression, hence deepening our inquires into the nature of the self.
Sherman has often denied trying to represent her own identity through her portraits - and she explains about the Clown series: "I'm interested in what I imagine about the person who's made up as a clown. The greatest challenge for me was to allow a personality to emerge from behind the clown make-up: a personality that has nothing to do with my own... I wanted in a way to find something behind the make-up, something that shimmers through" (Cindy Sherman quoted in: Maik Schülter, Cindy Sherman: Clowns, Hanover 2004, p. 54).
Although the Clown series might not reflect Sherman's personal emotions, the subject of this series intimates a parallel to her body of work as a whole, or even herself as an artist. In veiling their identities with dramatic, humorous and somewhat sinister disguises, the clowns appear as more than colourful and poetic motifs, but as Sherman's ironic, reflexive reinvention of the self, by the self; indeed as Eva Respini, curator of Sherman's 2012 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, has described this series , 'the clown can be seen as a stand-in for the artist, who is expected to entertain in the contemporary circus of society' (Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cindy Sherman, 2012, p. 45).
Untitled #419 is a revealing and complex work; the artist adorns a loose body suit with conical breasts and triangular felt pudenda alluding to feminist discourses on body image, identity and aspects of performance in gender. Sherman invokes a multilayered reading of the work, the figure at once appearing childlike and adult, with further subtleties arising in the clown's elusive expression and the playful representation of nudity which cleverly tread a line between abasement and innocence.
The background of the Untitled #419, rendered in Photoshop, is wonderfully dilettante which augments the overall naivety of the work. It’s simplicity focuses our attention on the central figure, accentuating her representation of identity and expression, hence deepening our inquires into the nature of the self.