Featuring approximately 150 photographs from 1975 to 1997, this international touring exhibition, co-organized by the MCA and The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, will be the most comprehensive survey to date of Cindy Sherman‘s work. Sherman is acknowledged to be one of the leading artists of our time (in 1995 she received a prestigious grant from the MacArthur Foundation). Her work embodies and has shaped two of the most crucial developments in art-making of the last decade: the impact of postmodern theory on the practice of art and the rise of photography and mass media techniques as a powerful means of expression for visual artists. Her artistic process is not unlike that of a film director managing a set. In her work, however, Sherman also plays the roles of actress, photographer, make-up artist, and prop person.

Cindy Sherman: Retrospective includes works from each of the artist’s major series, beginning with the untitled film stills and continuing through the centerfolds, fashion, disasters, fairy tales, and history portraits. They explore issues including female identity and the grotesque through staged and manipulated photographs. Among the more recent series represented in the show are the Civil War pictures, works inspired by surrealist photography, and her newest pictures of masked faces. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, with essays by Amada Cruz, MCA Manilow Curator of Exhibitions; MOCA curator Elizabeth Smith; and critic Amelia Jones.