Frida Kahlo And Cindy Sherman Analysis

Throughout history, art has been used to explore the identity of individuals and of society. Two artists who encapsulate both society and their own identities through their works are, Frida Kahlo and Cindy Sherman. Frida Kahlo (1907- 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her "surrealist" self-portraits. Kahlo's paintings "The Two Frida's" and "Self-portrait with cropped hair" embody Kahlo's personal struggles with her identity throughout her life. Contrastingly, Cindy Sherman (1954- ) is an American photographer and film director knows most famously for her controversial portraits. Sherman's portraits "untitled film still 2" and "untitled" draw attention to the centralized theme what is identity. Sherman's portraits aim to make the viewer

Rivera was a successful artist and member of Mexico's communist party. Infamously known as a womanizer, he and Kahlo suffered a turbulent marriage. After her and Rivera's first divorce Kahlo decided to renounce her femineity. Kahlo captures this experience through the artwork of "Self-portrait with cropped hair" (1940). The artwork is an oil on canvas work conveys Kahlo's self-punishment for her failed marriage to Rivera. The cropped hair to Kahlo represents her failure to fulfill societies role as a wife and woman. The braids were a central element in Kahlo's identity as the traditional La Mexicana, and in the act of cutting off her braids, she rejects her former identity. The hair surrounding her on the floor echoes an earlier self-portrait painted as the Mexican folkloric figure La Llorona, here ridding herself of these female

Sherman sought to force the public to question the seductive and often oppressive influence of mass-media over our individual and collective identities. Sexual desire and domination, the fashioning of self-identity as mass deception, these are among the unsettling subjects lying behind Sherman's extensive series of self-portraiture in various guises. Despite not aligning herself directly with feminism Sherman does conclude her work is, in fact, feminist. 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. The portrayal of women is a central theme throughout Sherman's career and can still be seen in her more recent works. Questioning what it means to be an older woman within our modern society. How throughout our lives woman feel obliged to conform to the male fantasy expectation. "Untitled 465#" (2008) features Sherman as a grotesquely overdone woman who appears by societies standards to be "past her prime" in what is referred to as her twilight years. Sherman disfiguring herself to comply with society's expectations and in desperation to appear youthful. To create her photographs, she assumes multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, stylist, and wardrobe mistress. Sherman