123 LANDSCAPES In the fall of 2010, the semiannual fashion magazine POP included an insert with Sherman’s work splashed across 15 double-pages. They featured mysterious-looking women dressed in haute couture set against the rugged landscapes of Iceland, Stromboli, Capri, and Shelter Island. Concerned about staining the historic garments – all from the archives of the illustrious Chanel fashion house – Sherman, for the first time, did not wear any makeup, preferring instead to digitally rework her physiognomy and facial expression – a first for her, but common practice in commercial fashion photography, where the technique is used to irradicate blemishes. Unlike fashion photographers, however, Sherman does not resort to image editing programs to “beautify” her appearance, but to morph into the bizarre characters she impersonates and shoots in her studio. Postproduction also sees her manipulate her landscape photographs by adding painterly effects. The treatment and topography of these landscapes thus contrast markedly with the strangely trancelike state and awkward poses of the figures positioned in front of them. The commission from POP (founded in 2000 and thus a relative newcomer on the British magazine market) also gave rise to the series Landscapes (2010–2012). Part of a series which Sherman incorporated into her own body of work, these monumental horizontal formats differ from the photographs published earlier in the magazine. The most noticeable differences are the unified formats and straightened edges of the previously irregularly shaped landscape backgrounds, which did not fill the entire magazine spread. As a result, the women seem less integrated into the landscape setting and seem to float in front of the background. Special effects such as these combine with the facial expressions and poses of Sherman’s adopted characters to break with the conventions of commercial fashion photography and are at odds with Chanel’s image as the epitome of elegance.
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