Artist Comparison

Cui Xiuwen, Cindy Sherman, and Fida Kahlo are three different female artists that work in distinctly different mediums. However, while each artist uses their own personal style to characterize their artwork, they all attempt to portray related, if not very similar, concepts. Each artist uses the female body to create visually stimulating images. While some are more dramatic than others, they are all equally emotional and dynamic.


Cui Xiuwen’s Angel collection features the same young girl, usually replicated multiple times but occasionally as a single figure. Each image portrays the human shape as an art form. Many times the girl’s body is not positioned in a way that makes sense; instead, the limbs are used to create dynamic shapes that interact with one another. This creates a very emotional image. Despite the appearance of many different figures in one frame, each “person” seems separate from one another. For example, while they are placed close to one another they do not look at each other or interact. Therefore, this may imply that the purpose of these images is not to show a crowd of people, but to show the many versions and emotional states of the same girl. Perhaps Xiuwen is attempting to comment on the different emotions that are associated with pregnancy. These images are all very bright and surreal, and feature a large portion of the background in addition to the figures.

Unlike Cui Xiuwen, Cindy Sherman keeps the focus of her images to one figure. Most of her artwork centers entirely on the one figure in a close-up, disregarding any background. This emphasizes the emotional and psychological states of the figure. In fact, each figure is meant to be cast as a “character,” one that either takes on a cliché or horrific movie role. Furthermore, each character is captured in what seems to be a very pivotal moment. This is enhanced by varied use of camera angles and it creates a very dramatic and dynamic image. Sherman seems to also like working with shadows and darker, muted colors.

Whereas Cindy Sherman attempts to cast herself in the role of a character in her photographs, Frida Kahlo aimed to portray the very essence of herself in her artwork. Unlike Xiuwen and Sherman, she did not use photography as her medium; instead, she expressed herself through bright oil paints. Her artwork has a more surreal edge to it. Contrasting especially with Xiuwen’s work, Kahlo paints flat figures with little depth. However, they are just as expressive: by being surrealistic, they do contain a great deal of symbolism. Kahlo makes great use of this to visually represent her past experiences. Overall, this is an intensely personal collection of artwork.