FOR SALE : from Cindy Sherman : ' untitled #205 ', from the series 'History Portraits', 2007.
Splendid offset lithography on 200 gr Profisilk paper
Hand signed in red marker by Cindy Sherman on the front, unnumbered from a limited edition of 200.
Edited by KUB, Bregenz , 2007.
Dimensions : 83,8 x 59,1 cm , framed in black, wooden frame (A1), with acrylate glass (also for security reasons during shipping).
SHIPS WORLDWIDE, please contact for more info.
ABOUT THE (original) WORK :
Since the eighties, Cindy Sherman has continued to photograph herself in various guises as she examines women's roles in history and contemporary society. Her images range from the beautiful to the grotesque. She's used elaborate costumes , extensive makeup and wigs to build her characters.
This work here is part of the series 'History Portraits' and refers to a painting, known as 'La Fornarina' , by the Italian painter and architect Raphael (Urbino, Italy 1483 - Rome 1520).
There are several interpretations of who the person portrayed in Raphael’s work La Fornarina (c. 1520, Rome) is. One of them identifies Margarita Luti as the depicted woman, who was Raphael’s lover and muse. Her father was a baker, and she was therefore called La Fornarina, or the baker’s daughter. Other interpretations describe the work as a more general depiction rather than the portrait of a specific person.
Joanna Woods-Marsden, for example, argues that the image could be an example of the belle donne theme, therefore being the artist’s representation of beauty. The woman in the painting was also speculated to be a depiction of a sex worker and a witch. The uncertainty regarding the woman’s identity makes Raphael’s work a perfect model for Sherman’s deconstruction of female identity by masquerading as different characters.
The differences between Sherman’s Untitled 205 and Raphael’s La Fornarina would probably have shocked Raphael’s contemporaries. An honorable depiction was ensured through the display of wealth and expensive clothing. In Sherman’s case, the ornate head brooch made with valuable materials is missing, and the exquisite gold headdress has been replaced with what Joanna Woods-Marsden called a worn, disheveled dishrag. The pregnant depiction of an unmarried woman would have also been unusual at the time.