Untitled Film Still 21
Untitled Film Still #21 is a black and white photograph taken by Cindy Sherman in 1978. It is part of her Untitled Film Stills photographic series, taken from 1977 to 1980. This photo was sold at auction for $871,500 in 2017. This picture is also known as The City Girl, because in this photo Sherman is posing as a Hitchcock inspired "working woman" on the streets of a big city.[1]
Evaluation[]
Nicholas Mirzoeff used this image in a chapter of his work "How to See the World", explicitly discussing the way of self-expression from self-portrait to selfie. For Mirzoeff, the woman in the photo stares in an invisible direction, and the feeling of opening her lips creates a "sense of threat and anxiety". He pointed out that in the classic Hollywood screen setting, "victims are always isolated like this before they suffer violence." However, Sherman's expression can also show that nothing is more vital than mild uncertainty. So anxious, but "threatening" feels like too much projection. Untitled Film Still #21 is one of her best early photos, and the style and architectural style of the costume (more "brighter" than the viewer in 1978) is an integral part of its lasting appeal as a single photo.[2][3]
Public collections[]
There are prints of this photograph at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Los Angeles, the Museum of Contemporary Art, in Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, in New York.
References[]
- ^ "Cindy Sherman: Untitled Film Stills". Woman's Art Journal.
- ^ How to see the world: an introduction to images, from self-portraits to selfies, maps to movies, and more. Basic Books.
- ^ "Exposure: Untitled Film Still #21 by Cindy Sherman".
 | This photography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by . |
- Photography stubs
- 1978 in art
- 1970s photographs
- Black-and-white photographs
- Photography in the United States