Cindy Sherman — Untitled #317 (1995) — Exhibition Postcard, Cindy Sherman: Retrospective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1998

Museum promotional postcard / exhibition announcement
Offset print on card stock
Published by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Exhibition dates: 21 February – 31 May 1998
Condition: light handling wear and minor surface marks consistent with age and storage

Issued for Cindy Sherman: Retrospective, presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago from 21 February – 31 May 1998 and jointly organised with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The card reproduces Untitled #317 (1995), a work from Sherman’s mid-1990s Masks series.

The reproduced image belongs to a body of work in which Sherman shifted from earlier self-performative roles toward prosthetic surfaces, mannequins, masks, and constructed identities. The tightly framed gold face produces an uncertain register somewhere between portrait, disguise, mannequin, and theatrical object. Identity appears less as revelation than as a manufactured surface.

The reverse retains traces of its original function. Alongside exhibition information, museum text, and a membership campaign offer, the object records a particular moment when institutional promotion, mass circulation, and a major retrospective converged. The postcard becomes both advertisement and residual exhibition material.

Original period item. Shipping and handling included in the listed price.