1. Life and Education
Cindy Sherman's early life on Long Island laid the groundwork for her artistic exploration, which was further developed through her education at Buffalo State University where she transitioned from painting to photography, influenced by conceptual art and the burgeoning "Pictures Generation" movement.
1.1. Early Life and Childhood
Cindy Sherman was born Cynthia Morris Sherman on January 19, 1954, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, the youngest of five children to Dorothy and Charles Sherman. Shortly after her birth, her family relocated to Huntington, Long Island. Her father was an engineer for Grumman Aircraft, while her mother taught remedial reading to children with learning difficulties. Sherman has described her mother as exceedingly kind and her father as strict and cruel. She was raised in the Episcopalian faith. Her early childhood interest in dress-up and dolls is often cited as a significant precursor to the transformative themes explored in her later artistic career.
1.2. Education and Early Career
In 1972, Sherman enrolled in the visual arts department at Buffalo State University, initially majoring in painting with an interest in hyperrealism. However, she grew frustrated with what she perceived as the limitations of painting as an artistic medium. She recalled, "There was nothing more to say [through painting]. I was meticulously copying other art, and then I realized I could just use a camera and put my time into an idea instead." Despite initially failing a required photography class, she repeated it with Barbara Jo Revelle, who introduced her to conceptual art and other contemporary forms.
At college, she met fellow artist Robert Longo, who encouraged her to document her process of "dolling up" for parties. This encouragement led to her first photographic series, CUTOUTS (1975), where she created cutout figures of herself. In 1974, Sherman, along with Longo, Charles Clough, and Nancy Dwyer, co-founded Hallwalls, an artists' center in Buffalo designed to accommodate artists from diverse backgrounds. During her time in Buffalo, Sherman was exposed to contemporary art exhibited at institutions like the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the two Buffalo campuses of the SUNY system, Media Studies Buffalo, the Center for Exploratory and Perceptual Arts, and Artpark. She encountered the photo-based conceptual works of artists such as Hannah Wilke, Eleanor Antin, and Adrian Piper, and is considered a key figure of the "Pictures Generation" alongside artists like Laurie Simmons, Louise Lawler, and Barbara Kruger. She graduated with a BA in 1976. After graduation, she received modest support from the National Endowment for the Arts and established her base in New York.
2. Artistic Approach and Themes
Sherman's artistic methodology is distinctive for her singular role in the creation of her photographic works. She works alone in her studio, assuming multiple responsibilities as author, director, makeup artist, hairstylist, wardrobe mistress, and model. Her process is largely intuitive; she responds to elements of a setting such as light, mood, location, and costume, continuously altering external elements until she finds her desired outcome. She describes her process as "trance-like," stating, "By staring into [the mirror next to the camera] I try to become that character through the lens... When I see what I want, my intuition takes over-both in the 'acting' and in the editing. Seeing that other person that's up there, that's what I want. It's like magic." She emphasizes her desire to "erase myself more than identify myself or reveal myself... It's really about obliterating myself within these characters."
Her work consistently explores themes of constructed identity, media stereotypes, and the performance of femininity. Sherman's photographs often call attention to the societal expectations and stereotypes imposed on women, particularly those propagated through films, television, and magazines. She frequently addresses the concept of the male gaze, aiming to make viewers aware of their voyeuristic tendencies and the objectification of women in media. Beyond gender, her art delves into broader societal anxieties, the grotesque, and the pressures of beauty standards and aging in a youth- and status-obsessed culture.
3. Major Photographic Series
Sherman's artistic output is characterized by distinct bodies of work, often produced in series, each exploring specific conceptual underpinnings and visual characteristics.
3.1. Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980)
The Untitled Film Stills series, comprising 69 black-and-white photographs, brought Cindy Sherman international recognition. In this seminal work, Sherman poses in various roles, such as librarians, hillbillies, and seductresses, within diverse settings including streets, yards, pools, beaches, and interiors. The resulting images are reminiscent of film stills from Italian neorealism or American film noir of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Sherman deliberately avoided titling the images to preserve their ambiguity. Her heroines in this series are often depicted as alone, expressionless, and in private moments, frequently embodying rebellious women who defy conventional ideas of marriage and family. The series is noted for highlighting the concept of the male gaze, with the implied gaze often coming from an unseen male subject.
Modest in scale, each photograph measures 8.5 in by 11 in and is displayed in identical, simple black frames. Sherman utilized her own possessions as props and often shot in her apartment, though some scenes were taken in other locations. The series can be broadly categorized into several groups: the initial six photographs are grainy and slightly out of focus; a subsequent group was taken in 1978 at Robert Longo's family beach house on Long Island's north fork (Sherman and Longo began a relationship in 1976); later in 1978, Sherman began shooting in outdoor urban locations, such as Untitled Film Still #21; she then returned to her apartment, creating a version of a Sophia Loren character from the film Two Women (e.g., Untitled Film Still #35, 1979); several photographs were taken during a road trip to Arizona with her parents, including Untitled Film Still #48 (1979), also known as The Hitchhiker, which was shot by her father at sunset; the remainder of the series was shot around New York, often featuring a blonde victim archetype typical of film noir, as seen in Untitled #54. The series was first exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. in 1980, gaining significant social attention as a masterpiece of contemporary art addressing female identity and societal oppression. In 1995, the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan acquired the entire series for an estimated 1.00 M USD. Untitled Film Still #21 was recognized by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential photographs.
3.2. Bus Riders (1976-2000)
Bus Riders is an early photographic series, initially created in 1976 for display on a bus by the Bus Authority. In this series, Sherman meticulously observes and portrays a variety of characters, transforming her identity for each image through the use of costumes and makeup. Notably, this series includes instances where Sherman utilized blackface makeup. The cutout characters were arranged along the bus's advertising strip. This series has drawn criticism for insensitivity to race due to the use of blackface, while others argue that her intention was to expose racism embedded in society. American theater critic Margo Jefferson commented on the series, stating that while Sherman was able to give a wide range of skin tones and facial features to her white characters, the African-American figures "all have nearly the same features... This didn't look like irony to me. It looked like a stale visual myth that was still in good working order."
3.3. Centerfolds/Horizontals (1981)
The Centerfolds/Horizontals series, created in 1981, draws inspiration from the center spreads found in fashion and pornographic magazines. This series of twelve photographs, each measuring 24 in by 48 in, was initially commissioned by Artforum editor-in-chief Ingrid Sischy for an artist's section but was ultimately not used. In these images, Sherman poses on the floor or in bed, typically in a recumbent and often supine position. Sherman stated her aim with these self-portraits was for a male viewer, upon opening the magazine, to "suddenly look at it with an expectation of something lascivious and then feel like the violator that they would be looking at this woman who is perhaps a victim." She intended to make the viewer "feel bad for having a certain expectation." Some of these works are designed to appear deeply psychological, with Sherman feeling "as tormented as the person I'm portraying" during their creation.
3.4. Fairy Tales and Disasters (1985-1989)
In her Fairy Tales (1985) and Disasters (1986-1989) series, Cindy Sherman began to incorporate visible prosthetics and mannequins into her work for the first time. These unsettling images re-examine classic fairy tales, emphasizing grotesque elements such as ugly injuries and artificial limbs, thereby drawing attention to the hidden violence and fixed gender norms often present in these narratives. This marked a shift towards exploring more disturbing and abject imagery, including projects like Vomit Pictures, which featured household leftovers, rotten food, vomit on the road, and broken sex toys, reflecting societal anxieties and the darker aspects of human experience.
3.5. Sex Pictures (1989)
Sherman produced the provocative Sex Pictures series in 1989. This series was partly a response to the 1989 NEA funding controversy involving photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, as well as Jeff Koons's "Made in Heaven" series, which featured his porn star wife. For this series, Sherman removed herself from the frame entirely, instead using prosthetic limbs and medical dummies arranged in explicit and often disturbing poses. The works are described as "anti-porn porn" and "the unsexiest sex pictures ever made," aiming to subvert traditional notions of sexuality and pornography by presenting visions of feigning, fighting, and perversion. Art critic Hal Foster described this series as an impulse to "erode the subject and to tear at the screen," ultimately leading to the obliteration of the self by the gaze. An example, Untitled, #264, features a body made of prosthetics with Sherman's face covered by a gas mask, emphasizing over-sexualized parts of the female body.
3.6. History Portraits (1989-1990)
Between 1989 and 1990, Sherman created 35 large-scale color photographs known as the History Portraits. This series continued her exploration of re-staging figures, as seen in her Fairy Tales series, by impersonating figures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Sherman explored themes of class, status, and representation within the context of art history, often adding anachronistic elements or subtle distortions to challenge the idealized portrayals of the past.
3.7. Clowns (2003-2004)
The Clowns cycle, produced between 2003 and 2004, showcases Sherman's use of digital photography, which allowed her to create chromatically garish backdrops and intricate montages of numerous characters. In this series, Sherman depicts various clown characters, creating vibrant yet often unsettling portraits that delve into themes of disguise, performance, and hidden emotions, exploring the duality of joy and sorrow associated with these figures.
3.8. Society Portraits (2008)
Sherman's 2008 Society Portraits series mimics the style of society photography, presenting characters against opulent backdrops and in ornate frames. The women portrayed, while not based on specific individuals, appear entirely familiar in their struggle to conform to the beauty standards prevalent in a youth- and status-obsessed culture. These portraits subtly critique the pressures of aging and superficiality within high society.
3.9. Imitation of Life (2016)
Named after the 1959 melodrama by Douglas Sirk, the Imitation of Life series (2016) marked Sherman's first photo gallery in five years, following a sabbatical spent addressing health issues and aging. In this series, Sherman embodies aging Hollywood actresses, utilizing elaborate theatrical makeup and vintage costumes to create highly stylized glamour portraits. This series also drew on the use of film set equipment and props from her experience directing Office Killer, further enhancing the theatricality of her portrayals of aging star actresses and bit-part actors. The series reflects on themes of memory, performance, and the passage of time, drawing inspiration from iconic divas of old Hollywood such as Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, and Ruby Keeler.
3.10. Other Notable Series
In 1980, Sherman transitioned from black-and-white to color and larger formats with her Rear Screen Projections series. Her Pink Robes series from 1982 includes Untitled #97, #98, #99, and #100. In 2010-11, she created a photographic mural where she photoshopped her face into decorative backdrops, transforming herself into fictitious environments and playing with the idea of reality and fantasy. A 2012 series of large-scale pictures depicts enigmatic female figures standing in striking isolation before ominous painterly landscapes, photographed by the artist in Iceland during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull and on the island of Capri. From 2019, Sherman began exhibiting self-portraits executed as tapestries by a Belgian workshop, marking her first non-photographic works, based on her Instagram images.
4. Fashion and Advertising Work
Cindy Sherman's career has extended into the realms of fashion and advertising, where she has collaborated with prominent designers and brands. In 1983, fashion designer and retailer Dianne Benson commissioned Sherman to create a series of advertisements for her store, Dianne B., which appeared in several issues of Interview magazine. Untitled #122 from this collection became particularly iconic, as Sherman subverted conventional fashion photography by deemphasizing the clothing itself.
She also contributed photographs for an editorial in Harper's Bazaar in 1993. In 1994, she produced the Post Card Series for Comme des Garçons for the brand's autumn/winter 1994-95 collections, collaborating with Rei Kawakubo. In 2006, Sherman created a series of fashion advertisements for designer Marc Jacobs, which were photographed by Juergen Teller and later released as a monograph. For Balenciaga, Sherman created the six-image series Cindy Sherman: Untitled (Balenciaga) in 2008, first publicly shown in 2010. In 2010, she collaborated with Anna Hu on a jewelry design. Sherman reunited with Juergen Teller for Marc Jacobs' Spring/Summer 2024 campaign.
5. Film and Other Media Work
Sherman has ventured beyond photography into other media, notably as a film director and through collaborations in music and other visual arts.
In the early 1990s, Sherman collaborated with the Minneapolis band Babes in Toyland. She provided photographs for the covers of their albums Fontanelle and Painkillers, created a stage backdrop for their live concerts, and appeared in the promotional video for their song "Bruise Violet."
Sherman made her directorial debut with the 1997 horror film Office Killer, starring Jeanne Tripplehorn, Molly Ringwald, and Carol Kane. Carol Kane's character, Dorine, is seen as a stand-in for Sherman, sharing an interest in arranging bodies in diorama-like scenes, akin to a puppeteer. The film is described as a blend of comedy, horror, melodrama, noir, feminist statement, and art piece, featuring unexpected characters and bizarre plot twists, including artistically executed murder scenes reminiscent of her Untitled Horror series. Despite its artistic intentions, Office Killer grossed 37.45 K USD and received generally negative reviews, with critics calling it "sadly inept," "crude," and "laugh-free," and lacking the artist's usual finesse.
Later, Sherman had a cameo role in John Waters' film Pecker and appeared in The Feature (2008), starring her ex-husband Michel Auder, which won a New Vision Award. In 2009, Paul Hasegawa-Overacker and Tom Donahue completed a feature documentary titled Guest of Cindy Sherman, which chronicled Hasegawa-Overacker's relationship with Sherman. Although she was initially supportive, Sherman later opposed the project. A 2002 videorecording titled Cindy Sherman: Transformations also documented her work. A catalog essay for her 2016 exhibition mentioned six short films Sherman made in college, which were precursors to Office Killer, and a conversation where Sherman admitted she might star in an upcoming film project.
6. Exhibitions and Retrospectives
Cindy Sherman's extensive exhibition history spans decades, showcasing her profound impact on the art world. Her first solo show in New York was held at the noncommercial space The Kitchen in 1980. Later that year, her photographs were featured in the inaugural exhibition at the Metro Pictures Gallery. Her seminal Untitled Film Stills were first shown at the non-profit gallery Artists Space, where Sherman worked as a receptionist. Her first solo exhibitions in France were presented by Galerie Chantal Crousel in Paris.
Sherman has participated in numerous international art events, including SITE Santa Fe (2004), the Venice Biennale (1982, 1995), and five Whitney Biennials. In 2013, she was invited to organize a show within the Venice Biennale. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at prestigious institutions worldwide, including the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1982), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (1987), Kunsthalle Basel (1991), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (1995), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1998), the Serpentine Gallery in London and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (2003), and Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin (2007).
Major traveling retrospectives of Sherman's work have been organized by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (1996); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Museum of Modern Art in New York (1997), the latter sponsored by Madonna; and a joint exhibition across Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria, Louisiana Museum for Moderne Kunst in Denmark, and Jeu de Paume in Paris (2006-2007). In 2009, Sherman was included in the seminal exhibition "The Pictures Generation, 1974-1984" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art mounted a major exhibition titled Cindy Sherman, which chronicled her work from the mid-1970s onward and featured over 170 photographs. This exhibition traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In 2016, following a sabbatical, Sherman staged her first photo gallery in five years, showcasing her "The Imitation of Life" series. This series was exhibited at the Metro Pictures Gallery in New York City, the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, the Spruth Magers gallery in Berlin, and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio. In 2019, the National Portrait Gallery, London, organized a major retrospective covering Sherman's works from the mid-1970s to the present. In 2024, her first exhibition in Greece was held at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, featuring over one hundred of her early works.
7. Critical Reception and Controversy
Cindy Sherman's work has been the subject of extensive critical discourse, particularly in relation to feminism, gender theory, and representation.
Many scholars, such as Douglas Crimp, interpret Sherman's work, especially her Untitled Film Stills, as inherently feminist. Crimp describes it as "a hybrid of photography and performance art that reveals femininity to be an effect of representation." Laura Mulvey, a prominent feminist film theorist, has analyzed Sherman's Untitled series in relation to the male gaze, asserting that "the accouterments of the feminine struggle to conform to a facade of desirability haunt Sherman's iconography," functioning as a parody of various voyeurisms captured by the camera. Mulvey, along with Hal Foster, also interprets Sherman's use of the abject and grotesque in 1980s projects like Vomit Pictures as a means of de-fetishizing the female body.
Despite these scholarly interpretations, Sherman herself has expressed a nuanced stance on whether her work is explicitly feminist. She has stated, "The work is what it is and hopefully it's seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I'm not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff." She has also identified an uncertainty regarding the Untitled series' relationship with the male gaze, admitting in a 1991 interview that she "didn't really analyze it at the time as far as knowing that I was commenting upon some feminist issue. The theories weren't there at all... But now I can look back on some of them, and I think some of them are a little blatantly obvious, too much like the original pin-up pictures of those times, so I have mixed feelings about them now as a whole series." Scholar Michele Meager interprets Sherman as having been "crowned a resistant celebrity" to feminist theory, highlighting the ongoing debate regarding the intentionality and impact of her work within feminist discourse.
A notable controversy surrounding Sherman's early work is the Bus Riders (1976-2000) series, which drew criticism for its use of blackface makeup. American theater critic Margo Jefferson specifically criticized the series, observing that while Sherman achieved a wide range of skin tones and facial features for her white characters, the African-American figures "all have nearly the same features." Jefferson stated, "This didn't look like irony to me. It looked like a stale visual myth that was still in good working order." While some critics argued that the use of blackface showed insensitivity to race, others suggested that Sherman's intention was to expose the underlying racism embedded in society.
In the art market, Sherman's works have achieved significant prices. In 2010, her nearly 6 ft-tall chromogenic color print Untitled #153 (1985), depicting the artist as a mud-caked corpse, sold for 2.70 M USD at Phillips de Pury & Company. In 2011, a print of Untitled #96 fetched 3.89 M USD at Christie's, making it the most expensive photograph sold at that time. In April 2023, Phillips NY auctioned Untitled #546 (2010), measuring 63 in (159 cm) by 141 in (359 cm), for 355.60 K USD, well above its estimate. Sherman was represented by Metro Pictures for 40 years and also by Sprüth Magers before moving to Hauser & Wirth in 2021.
8. Influence on Contemporary Art
Cindy Sherman's innovative approach to identity, self-portraiture, and critical commentary on media culture has had a profound impact on subsequent generations of artists, particularly photographers and visual artists. Her work is widely credited as a major influence on contemporary portrait photographers.
One such photographer is Ryan Trecartin, who manipulates themes of identity in his videos and photography, drawing inspiration from Sherman's transformative portrayals. Her influence extends beyond photography to artists working in other mediums, including painter Lisa Yuskavage, visual artist Jillian Mayer, and performance artist Tracey Ullman.
In April 2014, actor and artist James Franco exhibited a series of photographs titled New Film Stills at the Pace Gallery. In this controversial series, Franco re-staged twenty-nine images from Sherman's original Untitled Film Stills. The exhibit garnered largely negative reviews, with critics describing Franco's appropriations as "sophomoric," "sexist," and "embarrassingly clueless."
9. Personal Life
Cindy Sherman's personal life has seen several significant relationships. From 1974 to 1980, she lived with artist Robert Longo, who also included her in his 'Men in the Cities' series of photographs. In 1984, she married director Michel Auder, becoming stepmother to his daughter, Alexandra, and her half-sister Gaby Hoffmann. They divorced in 1999. Following this, she was in a five-year relationship with Paul Hasegawa-Overacker, who later created a documentary film about Sherman. From 2007 to 2011, she had a relationship with artist David Byrne.
Sherman has maintained residences in New York and the Hamptons. Between 1991 and 2005, she resided in a fifth-floor co-op loft at 84 Mercer Street in Soho, Manhattan, which she later sold to actor Hank Azaria. She subsequently purchased two floors in a 10-story condo building overlooking the Hudson River in West Soho, using one as her apartment and the other as her studio and office.
For many years, Sherman spent her summers in the Catskill Mountains. In 2000, she bought songwriter Marvin Hamlisch's 4,200-square-foot house on 0.4 acre (0.4 acre) in Sag Harbor for 1.50 M USD. She later acquired a 19th-century home on a 10 acre (10 acre) waterfront property on Accabonac Harbor in East Hampton, New York.
Despite expressing contempt for social media platforms, calling them "so vulgar," Sherman maintains an active Instagram account featuring her selfies, which she often creates using various photo-correction applications.
10. Awards and Honors
Cindy Sherman has received numerous prestigious awards and honors throughout her career, acknowledging her significant contributions to the art world:
- 1981: Artist-in-residence, Light Work, Syracuse, New York
- 1994: Larry Aldrich Foundation Award
- 1995: MacArthur Fellowship (often referred to as a "genius grant")
- 1997: Wolfgang Hahn Prize
- 1999: Hasselblad Award from the Hasselblad Foundation
- 2001: National Arts Award
- 2003: American Academy of Arts and Sciences Award
- 2005: Guild Hall Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for Visual Arts
- 2009: Jewish Museum's Man Ray Award
- 2009: International Artist Award from Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
- 2010: Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Arts, London
- 2012: Roswitha Haftmann Prize
- 2012: Honored by actor Steve Martin at the 10th anniversary Gala in the Garden at the Hammer Museum
- 2012: Her works were given as trophies to the filmmakers of winning pictures in the Tribeca Film Festival's jury competitions
- 2013: Honorary doctorate degree from the Royal College of Art, London
- 2016: Praemium Imperiale (Painting category)
- 2017: Induction into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum
- 2020: Wolf Prize in Art
- 2023: Served on the jury that chose Sarah Lucas as the first winner of the New Museum's 400.00 K USD Hostetler/Wrigley Sculpture Award
- 2024: Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member Jeff Koons
- 2024: Contributed pieces to Artists for Kamala, an online sale with proceeds going to Kamala Harris' campaign ahead of the 2024 United States presidential election.
11. Collections
Works by Cindy Sherman are held in the permanent collections of numerous major museums and art institutions worldwide, reflecting the widespread recognition and importance of her art. These include:
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- The Broad, Los Angeles, CA
- Jewish Museum (Manhattan), New York, NY
- Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI
- Menil Collection, Houston, TX
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX
- Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
- Tate Modern, Bankside, London
12. Publications
Key books, exhibition catalogues, and scholarly works that have been published about Cindy Sherman's art, career, and critical reception include:
- Inverted Odysseys: Claude Cahun, Maya Deren, Cindy Sherman. MIT Press, 1999. Edited by Shelley Rice.
- Essential, The: Cindy Sherman. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1999.
- Cindy Sherman: Retrospective (Paperback). Thames & Hudson, 2000. By Amanda Cruz and Elizabeth A. T. Smith.
- In Real Life: Six Women Photographers. Holiday House, 2000. By Leslie Sills, et al.
- Early Work of Cindy Sherman. Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 2001.
- Cindy Sherman: Photographic Works 1975-1995 (Paperback). Schirmer/Mosel, 2002. By Elisabeth Bronfen, et al.
- Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills. Museum of Modern Art, 2003.
- Cindy Sherman: Centerfolds. Skarstedt Fine Art, 2004.
- Cindy Sherman: Working Girl. St. Louis, Missouri: Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 2006.
- Cindy Sherman. The MIT Press, 2006. Edited by Johanna Burton.
- Cindy Sherman: A Play of Selves. Hatje Cantz, 2007.
- Cindy Sherman. Museum of Modern Art, 2012.
- Cindy Sherman: Untitled Horrors. Hatje Cantz, 2013.
- Cindy Sherman's Office Killer: Another Kind of Monster. Intellect Books, 2014. By Dahlia Schweitzer.
- Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life. Prestel, 2016. By Philipp Kaiser.
- Contemporary photography and theory : concepts and debates. Routledge, 2020. By Sally Miller.
- Photography, a feminist history : gender rights and gender roles on both sides of the camera. Chronicle Books, 2021. By Emma Lewis.
- Role models : feminine identity in contemporary American photography. Scala, 2008.
- Cindy Sherman: The Early Works 1975-1977 : Catalogue Raisonné. Hatje Cantz, 2012. By Cindy Sherman and Gabriele Schor.
- After the Revolution Women Who Transformed Contemporary Art. Prestel, 2007. By Eleanor Heartney.
- Cindy Sherman: retrospective. Thames & Hudson, 1997. By Cindy Sherman, Amada Cruz, Elizabeth A. T. Smith, and Amelia Jones.
- Cindy Sherman. Edition Cantz, 1991. By Cindy Sherman, Thomas Kellein, Kunsthalle Basel, Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst, and Whitechapel Art Gallery.
- Creative Camera: Thirty Years of Writing. Manchester University Press, 1999. By David Brittain.
- Cindy Sherman. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 1996. By Cindy Sherman, Talitha Schoon, and Karel Schampers.
- October Files #6: Cindy Sherman. Visual Resources, 2008.
- A to Z of Women: American Women in the Visual Arts (2nd ed.). 2015. By L. Sonneborn.
- Cindy Sherman. Pantheon New York, 1984. By Peter Schjeldahl.
- Contemporary Artist Encyclopedia: From Koons, Hirst, to Murakami - Introduction to Art after the 1980s. Bijutsu Techo Editorial Department, 2012.
- Toward the Unknown Me: Contemporary Women's Self-Portraits. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, 2021.
- Contemporary Photography: What is Photography?. Little More, 2023. By Shigeo Goto.