Untitled Film Still #16
Artist
Cindy Sherman
(American, b. 1954)
CultureAmerican
Date1978
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Support: 51 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. (130.2 x 102.2 cm)
Overall, Image: 35 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (90.2 x 70.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 52 1/4 × 41 in. (132.7 × 104.1 cm)
Overall, Image: 35 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (90.2 x 70.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 52 1/4 × 41 in. (132.7 × 104.1 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase and National Endowment for the Arts grant
Object number89.99
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print photograph. It depicts a seated woman in a black dress, with a cigarette in her left hand. Her right hand is mutated, and looks alien-like. The woman has black hair, and her head is turned to the right.Label TextCindy Sherman American, b. 1954 Untitled, 1978 Gelatin silver print (photograph) When she poses for her photographs, Cindy Sherman inhabits different personas and times. Works like this one call to mind movie stills—moments extracted from an ongoing narrative—and while they seem to freeze a single moment, they also invite questions about the broader story. What is the sitter looking at? Who is depicted in the painting on the wall? So imperceptible are the distinctions between Sherman’s “film stills” and actual Hollywood cinema that some viewers at her first exhibition of this work reportedly claimed to know the films from which the stills were taken. Museum purchase and National Endowment for the Arts Grant 89.99 Exhibition History"The Portrait in America," The Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., January 26 - April 8, 1990. "Treasures for the Community: The Chrysler Collects, 1989-1996," Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., October 25, 1996 - February 16, 1997. "Portrait as Performance," Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, Va., May 24 - August 18, 2002. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. "(my private) Heroes," MARt, Herford, Germany, May 7 - August 21, 2005. "Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010. "Remix: A Fresh Look At Our Modern And Contemporary Art Collections," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 2, 2011 - March 17, 2012. "The Nexus," Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA, January 25 - April 28, 2013. "Photographs Take Time: Pictures from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - August 26, 2018.Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson, _The Portrait in America_, exh. cat., The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1990, 9, 58. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 119, fig. 145.
Joseph Gott