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Born in 1954 in New Jersey, Cindy Sherman first explored the ideas that would become her trademark while attending art school at Buffalo State College, where she quickly abandoned painting in favour of photography.

Drawing on imagery from art history, film, TV, magazines (and, later, the internet), and making use of make-up, costumes, props and prosthetics, Sherman has become renowned for her explorations into the construction of contemporary identity.

She began the Untitled Film Stills series after moving to New York in 1977. The 70 black-and-white photographs, featuring Sherman wearing a range of costumes and hairstyles referencing vintage Hollywood, film noir and European art-house films, received widespread critical recognition and defined the approach she would take for much of her career.

The entire series is on show at the National Portrait Gallery’s new Cindy Sherman exhibition, along with 80 other works ranging from the 1970s to the present day.

Among them are all five Cover Girl images, completed when she was a student in 1976, in which Sherman places herself on famous magazine covers, as well as shots from acclaimed series including Rear Screen Projections, Centerfolds, History Portraits, Fairy Tales, Sex Pictures, Masks, Headshots, Clowns and Society Portraits.

Curator Paul Moorhouse said: “Cindy Sherman’s art is completely distinctive. By inventing fictitious characters and photographing herself in imaginary situations, she inhabits a world of pure appearance. No other artist interrogates the illusions presented by modern culture in such a penetrating way - or scrutinises so tellingly the façades that people adopt.”

The exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery, London, from 27 June to 15 September 2019.

Cindy Sherman #untitled is the title of a new documentary in the Arena strand which airs on 麻豆约拍 Four on Sunday 28 July and is then available on 麻豆约拍 iPlayer. Sherman appears in almost every photograph she takes, yet shies away from the media spotlight and practically never appears on camera. Along with rare access to the artist herself, this film features artists, curators and those closest to Sherman throughout her life and career.