Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Janet Wolfson de Botton
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cindy-sherman-1938" aria-label="More by Cindy Sherman" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Cindy Sherman</a>
B
Presented by Janet Wolfson de Botton 1996
actions: expressive
adults
arts and entertainment
body
caricature
clothing and personal items
disguise
drag
dress: fantasy/fancy
emotions, concepts and ideas
fancy dress / role play
formal qualities
hat, cap
head / face
make-up
named individuals
objects
people
photographer
photographic
portraits
self-portraits
Sherman, Cindy
smiling
social comment
society
transformation
universal concepts
woman
work and occupations
<p>In this series Sherman radically alters her appearance using make-up, hairstyles, hats and different facial expressions. She has explained, ‘I made [them] to show the process of turning one character into another. At that time I was merely interested in the use of make-up on a face as paint used on a blank canvas.’ Sherman’s self-transformation, combining evident staging with the successful portrayal of a character type, continues to be central to her work today.</p><p><em>Gallery label, June 2011</em></p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
5 December 2005 – 10 April 2007
2007-04-10
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2005-12-05
Sherman and Wearing
Collection based display
27 May 2011 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
27 May 2011 – 15 April 2012
2012-04-15
2011-05-27
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2011-05-27
Double Life
Collection based display
13 November 2012 – 1 April 2013
2013-04-01
13 November 2012 – 1 April 2013
2013-04-01
2012-11-13
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2012-11-13
A Bigger Splash
Exhibition
3 August 2015 – 1 November 2017
2017-11-01
3 August 2015 – 1 November 2017
2017-11-01
2015-08-03
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2015-08-03
Cindy Sherman
Collection based display
Untitled B
support: 430 × 355 mm
image: 418 × 282 mm
frame: 599 × 498 × 28 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999959" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Janet Wolfson de Botton</a> 1996
<p><i>Untitled A, B, C </i><span>and </span><i>D</i><span>
belong to a more extensive series of</span><b>
</b><span><a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a> Sherman made while she was studying art at the State University College at Buffalo, New York (1972-6). She selected five images from the series and arbitrarily labelled them A to E. They were enlarged and reprinted in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>editions</span></a> of ten. Tate’s copies are the first <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a> in each edition. Sherman has explained the origins of this </span><i>Untitled </i><span>series: </span>
<br/>
<br/></p>
<blockquote><span>These images were from a series of head shots that I made to show the process of turning one character into another. At that time I was merely interested in the use of make-up on a face as paint used on a blank <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a>. I was experimenting with several types of characters – i.e. starting with an old person who then gradually became a drag queen. While the original series showed the entire process (about fifty 3” x 5” photos), later I chose a smaller group to make into slightly larger separate pieces. I unintentionally shot them with a very narrow depth of field, leaving only certain parts of the face in focus, which gives some of the features [a] malleable quality.</span>
<br/></blockquote>
<p><span>(Quoted in </span><i>Contemporary Art</i><span>, p.98.)</span>
<br/></p>
<p>
<br/><span>Sherman initially studied <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> at Buffalo, making self-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a> and realistic copies of images she found in magazines and photographs. She began using photography after being introduced to <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/conceptual-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Conceptual art'"><span>Conceptual art</span></a> by a teacher who inspired her to bring her childhood activities and obsessions into her work. She has said that as a child she was introverted, adding that ‘as a girl I used to always enjoy dressing up and being made-up. A lot of girls might like to look like their moms, but I would try to look like a monster or an old lady. Maybe I could have been an actress.’ (Quoted in Paul Taylor, ‘Cindy Sherman’, </span><i>Flash Art</i><span>, no.124, Oct. – Nov. 1985, p.78.) In this series of images Sherman combined painting (on her face) with photographic portraiture, assuming the personae of three female characters of different ages and one male. Variations in hairstyle and the use of hats in two of the photographs are the only props used. Below the chin the artist is bare. Two pale lines running down from either side of her neck, the result of being in the sun in a halterneck top, are clearly visible in each image and emphasise the theatricality of the work.</span>
<br/>
<br/><span>The character in </span><i>Untitled A</i><span> wears a crocheted hat and has the most obvious make-up. Her dark eye-liner and lipstick, accompanied by heavy rouge just under her cheekbones to thin her face, suggest a woman in her thirties. Her submissive smile and the angle at which her head is tilted convey the sense of someone shy and anxious to please. The character in </span><i>Untitled</i><span>
</span><i>B</i><span>, who is male, has joined-up eyebrows, and darkening under his eyes and chin and between his nose and mouth. For this image Sherman wore a cloth cap and pulled her chin into her neck to give the character a genial, comic air. The character in </span><i>Untitled</i><span>
</span><i>C </i><span>has the least facial darkening. Her makeup mainly consists of thick mascara on her eyelashes, contributing to the wide-eyed innocent look she aims at the viewer from under her fringe. She appears only marginally older than the character in </span><i>Untitled</i><span>
</span><i>D</i><span>, whose hair is held back with a pair of butterfly grips. For this pose Sherman darkened her face between the eyes, under the chin and in a line between her nose and the edges of her mouth. In all the images, Sherman has combined evident staging with the successful portrayal of a character type. This was later to become the artist’s signature technique, permitting her to evoke a wide range of emotional and thematic registers. </span><i>Bus</i><span>
</span><i>Riders </i><span>1976 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-p78495" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P78495</span></a>-508 and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-p78535" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P78535</span></a>) is a series of photographs Sherman made shortly after leaving college, before she moved to New York and made her famous series of </span><i>Untitled Film Stills </i><span>1977-80 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sherman-untitled-film-still-17-p11516" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11516</span></a>-9).</span>
<br/>
<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/><span>Rochelle Steiner, </span><i>Cindy Sherman</i><span>, exhibition catalogue, Serpentine Gallery, London and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh 2003, p.13, reproduced p.27</span>
<br/><span>Amanda Cruz, Elizabeth A.T. Smith, Amelia Jones, </span><i>Cindy Sherman: Retrospective</i><span>, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 1997, p.197, reproduced [p.xii]</span>
<br/><span>Monique Beudert, Sean Rainbird, </span><i>Contemporary Art: The Janet Wolfson de Botton Gift</i><span>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1998, p.98, reproduced p.56</span>
<br/>
<br/><span>Elizabeth Manchester </span>
<br/><span>November 2000/September 2001</span>
<br/>
<br/></p>

Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>In this series Sherman radically alters her appearance using make-up, hairstyles, hats and different facial expressions. She has explained, ‘I made [them] to show the process of turning one character into another. At that time I was merely interested in the use of make-up on a face as paint used on a blank canvas.’ Sherman’s self-transformation, combining evident staging with the successful portrayal of a character type, continues to be central to her work today.</p>

Display caption
2011-06-06T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: expressive adults arts and entertainment body caricature clothing and personal items disguise drag dress: fantasy/fancy emotions, concepts and ideas fancy dress / role play formal qualities hat, cap head / face make-up named individuals objects people photographer photographic portraits self-portraits Sherman, Cindy smiling social comment society transformation universal concepts woman work and occupations