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Label Text In Sherman’s “History Portraits” series, the artist recreates herself as both male and female personages from Old Master paintings. Here, the long curly wig and open book imply a scholar from the 18th-century Enlightenment, with its values of science, rationality, and progress. Sherman intentionally leaves obvious the make-up, prosthetics, and wig it takes to achieve her costume. With this series, Sherman literally places herself within the scope of art history, distorting classical notions of beauty and questioning traditional methods of presenting the human form.
DimensionsFrame: 71 5/8 × 48 × 1 1/4 in. (181.9 × 121.9 × 3.2 cm)
Image (visual): 65 3/8 × 41 1/2 in. (166.1 × 105.4 cm)
Accession Number 2007.11
Classificationsphotograph
Signed"Cindy Sherman" (Label, verso)
Edition4/6 (bis)
Provenance(Metro Pictures); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from previous, 2007]
Untitled #218
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1982
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1979
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1981
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1980
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1981
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cindy Sherman
1977
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Unknown Associated Press photographer
August 7, 1967
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Anselm Reyle
2010
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Victor Vasarely
1969
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Tony Feher
2012
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Xaviera Simmons
2014