For more than 30 years now, Cindy Sherman has been enacting a gamut of female roles and identities. Contrary to popular belief, the famous Untitled Film Stills (1978–80) are not Sherman’s earliest works, but rather those photographs she took as a student at State University College at Buffalo, between 1975 and 1977. During those years, Sherman cast aside the career in painting she had initially imagined for herself and began to study photography: “I was meticulously copying other art and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead,” she later recalled. Cindy Sherman: The Early Works, 1975–1977 gathers all of the artist’s work from this decisive phase, in which Sherman was formulating her conceptions of gender and identity construction, gathering her toolkit of props (wigs, makeup, costumes) and becoming friends with artists such as Robert Longo (with whom she would establish the Hallwalls gallery in New York). With nearly 300 plates, including numerous previously unknown photographs, plus scholarly research by editor Gabriele Schor, this substantial volume adds a wealth of new information to our understanding of Sherman’s oeuvre. Cindy Sherman (born 1954) is one of America’s most influential living artists. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, she was raised on Long Island and studied at State University College, Buffalo. Upon graduation she moved to New York and soon commenced work on the groundbreaking series that would make her name, Untitled Film Stills. In 1996, The Museum of Modern Art bought a complete set of the series for one million dollars.
Featured image, from a color slide of Cindy Sherman as "Rose Scaleci" (1975), is reproduced from Cindy Sherman: The Early Works.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Choice
Elizabeth Tucker
Schor's essay perfectly escorts readers through this period, synthesizing past scholarship with her own in this engaging account of Sherman's life and the early years of the Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center. Reflecting generous access to those archives and new conversations with the artist and Hallwalls colleagues about Sherman's artwork, Schor's catalogue is a necessity for any visual arts or art history program.
"Even though I've never actively thought of my work as feminist or as a political statement, certainly everything it was drawn from my observations as a woman in this culture. And a part of that is a love/hate thing—being infatuated with makeup and glamour and detesting it at the same time. It comes from trying to look like a proper young lady or look as sexy or as beautiful as you can make yourself, and also feeling like a prisoner of that structure."
Cindy Sherman, quoted in Gabriele Schor's essay, "Cindy Sherman: The Early Years in Buffalo."
In the December issue of the esteemed library review, Choice, Princeton's H.B. Bennett writes, "The year 2012 was important for looking back on the work of American photographer Cindy Sherman. MoMA staged a massive retrospective beginning with the late 1970s and published an accompanying catalogue, Eva Respini's Cindy Sherman. Looking back a bit further is the equally massive Cindy Sherman: The Early Works, 1975-77.... This new catalogue features works produced largely while Sherman was an art student at SUNY-Buffalo. Many, such as the Air Shutter Release series (1975), are published here for the first time. The start of Sherman's artistic career is often attributed to the Untitled Film Stills (1977-80), but curator Gabriele Schor recovers the importance of Sherman's earlier work, demonstrating how the Bus Riders series (pictured here, from 1977), or A Play of Selves truly defined her artistic aims. Schor's essay perfectly escorts readers through this period, synthesizing past scholarship with her own in this engaging account of Sherman's life and the early years of the Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center. Reflecting generous access to those archives and new conversations with the artist and Hallwalls colleagues about Sherman's artwork, Schor's catalogue is a necessity for any visual arts or art history program. Summing up: Essential. " continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 11.5 in. / 375 pgs / 48 color / 240 duotone. LIST PRICE: U.S. $85.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $100 ISBN: 9783775729819 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 6/30/2012 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Cindy Sherman: The Early Works Catalogue Raisonné, 1975-1977
Published by Hatje Cantz. Text by Gabriele Schor.
For more than 30 years now, Cindy Sherman has been enacting a gamut of female roles and identities. Contrary to popular belief, the famous Untitled Film Stills (1978–80) are not Sherman’s earliest works, but rather those photographs she took as a student at State University College at Buffalo, between 1975 and 1977. During those years, Sherman cast aside the career in painting she had initially imagined for herself and began to study photography: “I was meticulously copying other art and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead,” she later recalled. Cindy Sherman: The Early Works, 1975–1977 gathers all of the artist’s work from this decisive phase, in which Sherman was formulating her conceptions of gender and identity construction, gathering her toolkit of props (wigs, makeup, costumes) and becoming friends with artists such as Robert Longo (with whom she would establish the Hallwalls gallery in New York). With nearly 300 plates, including numerous previously unknown photographs, plus scholarly research by editor Gabriele Schor, this substantial volume adds a wealth of new information to our understanding of Sherman’s oeuvre.
Cindy Sherman (born 1954) is one of America’s most influential living artists. Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, she was raised on Long Island and studied at State University College, Buffalo. Upon graduation she moved to New York and soon commenced work on the groundbreaking series that would make her name, Untitled Film Stills. In 1996, The Museum of Modern Art bought a complete set of the series for one million dollars.
