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Untitled #92

Color photograph of a light-skinned woman with short blond hair in dress that evokes a school uniform, crouched on the floor with wet hair, looking up with a distressed expression.
© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.

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  • Color photograph of a light-skinned woman with short blond hair in dress that evokes a school uniform, crouched on the floor with wet hair, looking up with a distressed expression.

Date:

1981

Artist:

Cindy Sherman
American, born 1954

About this artwork

Cindy Sherman is a major figure in the contemporary revival of directed, or staged, photography. Her work explores the pervasive effects that mass-media images have upon the construction, assumption, and projection of individual identities. Since the late 1970s, the artist has served as both photographer and model for a large cast of fictional personalities created through changes in costume, hair (usually a wig), makeup, and lighting. Sherman first gained recognition for a series of black-and-white works that imitate the look and feel of stills from popular films of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1981 she began a series of large color photographs that mimic the horizontal format of a magazine centerfold. Though formally reminiscent of such glossy spreads, Sherman’s representations are fraught with anxiety, vulnerability, and longing. In Untitled #92, she depicted herself in a moment of cinematic distress, crouched on the floor with wet hair. Her costume—white blouse and plaid skirt—evokes a school uniform, and her well-manicured hands offer evidence of some unknown struggle. An imposing darkness surrounds her but a bright light, suggestive of a flashlight or the headlights of a car, illuminates her blank expression.

Status

On View, Gallery 296

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Cindy Sherman

Title

Untitled #92

Place

United States (Object made in:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1981

Medium

Chromogenic print

Edition

10 of 10, plus 2 artist's proofs

Dimensions

61 × 122 cm (24 × 48 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Edlis Neeson Collection

Reference Number

2015.157

Copyright

© Cindy Sherman. Courtesy Metro Pictures, New York.

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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