Portrait of Cindy Sherman by Martin Schoeller

Every Thursday evening, the National Portrait Gallery presents “Face-to-Face,” a talk about selected portraits on view in the gallery. As part of this regular series, Anne Goodyear, who is assistant curator of prints and drawings at NPG, discussed this portrait of Cindy Sherman by photographer Martin Schoeller.  The portrait is on display in the recently opened exhibition "Portraiture Now: Feature Photography."

Cindy Sherman, who is well known for creating photographs of herself adopting a broad range of persona, has a face that is surprisingly unfamiliar to viewers. You can view a selection of Sherman’s work on the Metro Pictures gallery website, including photographs from the mid-1970s. Schoeller’s portrait of Sherman, originally published with a New Yorker profile by Calvin Tomkins, “Her Secret Identities,” unmasks the influential artist. 

A native of Germany, Martin Schoeller, who now lives and works in New York, honed his skills by working with Annie Leibovitz.  He has exhibited his portraits internationally and has received numerous awards. Schoeller’s photographs have appeared in many prominent magazines, including the New Yorker, Gentleman’s Quarterly (GQ), Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone.

>> Listen to Anne Goodyear’s Face-to-Face talk on Cindy Sherman (25:08)

To view more works by Martin Schoeller, and the other artists featured in "Portraiture Now: Feature Photography," be sure to see the online exhibition.  And listen to Martin Schoeller in this audio slideshow from the New Yorker.

The next Face-to-Face talk is this Thursday, January 15, when Associate Curator of Photographs Frank Goodyear speaks about photographer Ryan McGinley’s self-portrait in the exhibition "Portraiture Now: Feature Photography."  The talk runs from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m.  Visitors meet the presenter in the museum’s F Street lobby and then walk to the appropriate gallery.