Cindy Sherman
Untitled Film Still

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Artist Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954)American, born 1954

CultureAmerican

Titles

Untitled Film Still

Date1979

Place depictedScottsdale, Arizona, United States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 7 1/2 × 9 7/16 in. (19.1 × 24 cm)
Sheet: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Mr. and Mrs. Harry B. Gordon

Object number81.154

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionCindy
Sherman populates her Untitled Film Stills
series with solitary women who act out clichés inspired by female
representations in midcentury cinema. Throughout the series, Sherman masquerades
as different characters that are visually familiar but broadly unidentifiable. Here,
Sherman evokes the trope of the suburban housewife who appears so completely disinterested
with domesticity’s daily tasks that she can only bring herself to perform,
rather than enact, them. Alluringly costumed in a blonde wig, swimsuit, white
shirt, and sunglasses, Sherman’s character is not dressed for strenuous yard
work; instead, she mindlessly waters an empty patch of dirt in her unkempt
garden.
Provenance[Texas Gallery, Houston]; purchased by MFAH, 1981.
Exhibition History"The Artist Portrayed," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 14–November 5, 1995.

"Contemporary Art and Photography: Spotlight on the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 30, 2001– March 31, 2002.

"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 21–May 9, 2010.

"Always Greener: Seeing and Seeking Suburbia—Selections from the Museum’s Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 21, 2018–February 3, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

verso upper center in pencil "Cindy Sherman / © 1979 / 1/10"
verso center in black marker "X"

verso center a stamp[upside down] "I 1557"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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