The Lucy Photo-Booth Shot

Date

1975

Creator

The generation of artists that came of age in the 1970s grew up amid film and television mass media, and have used photography as a mode to present their creative works in other media. Prominent among them is Cindy Sherman, who places her own image at the center of invented characters and stories. This photobooth shot from early in Sherman’s career represents Lucille Ball from the 1930s. Rather than displaying the empty, wide-eyed stare of the comedienne’s later, klutzy character, this Lucy glances at the camera through lowered eyelids. She holds her left hand under her chin to narrow her jaw line, more closely to approximate the shape of Lucy’s face. from Touchstones of the Twentieth Century: A History of Photography at the University of Notre Dame (exhibition, 2020-21)