Fine Art Photography
Series
Robert Mapplethorpe
Biography of Controversial Contemporary
Art Photographer.
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Fine Art Photography
Series
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Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89)Contents • Robert Mapplethorpe's
Photography |
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Best Known Photos Ken Moody (1983) Robert Mapplethorpe (1980) Thomas (1987)
PHOTO GLOSSARY CAMERA DEVELOPMENT |
Robert Mapplethorpe's Photography Ranked among the top contemporary artists and arguably one of the most controversial but greatest photographers of the homoerotic scene, Robert Mapplethorpe was the cult camera artist of the 1980s. Although his photography included a wide range of acclaimed still lifes of plants - featuring tulips, orchids, poppies, irises, and lilies, including his celebrated composition Calla Lily (1986, silver print, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York) - he is best known for his controversial male nudes and other photos from the New York "leather scene". These latter photos may be considered by some as a form of contemporary art but a number of art critics have serious reservations about this type of narcissistic, often obscene pictorialism. Others believe that if the Turner Prize can be awarded for flaky so-called "conceptual art", why not call Mapplethorpe's rude photos postmodernist art? Sadly, however, his more orthodox statuesque male and female nudes, delicate plant compositions, and highly formal portraits have been overshadowed by his more controversial works. Furthermore, his December 1988 show The Perfect Moment (curated by Janet Kardon of the Institute of Contemporary Art, and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts), triggered a general controversy about the public funding of artworks in America, and ushered in a much more restrictive regime, penalizing other contemporary artists in the process. Studies art at the Pratt Innstitute in Brooklyn 1963-1969. Initially, graphic art, free collages, costume jewellery, installations. From 1970, becomes involved in photography. Self-taught. First photographs using a Polaroid camera (portraits and self-portraits). 1976 moves to the 2.25 inch square format. Produced portraits of renowned New York artists and intellectuals. Studies of plants in the style of Die Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) of the 1920s. Devotes himself to the nude, including male models. Rigorously composed studies of the body in the tradition of George Hoyningen-Huene (1900-68) and Horst P Horst (1906-99). 1977, participates in Documenta 6 in Kassel. 1979, first solo exhibition in Europe (Jurka Gallery, Amsterdam). 1980-1983, Lisa Lyon cycle. Films, book projects, exhibitions. In the 1980s, his close companion and patron Sam Wagstaff gives him $500,000 to purchase the New York apartment where he lives and takes photographs. At the instigation of Wagstaff, he builds up his own photo collection. 1988, establishes the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to support Aids research and photo-art projects. His estate is also with the foundation. 1988, big retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. He dies soon afterwards at the peak of his international acclaim - of Aids. Censorship of Mapplethorpe's The Perfect Moment exhibition, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC, marks the beginning of a more restrictive cultural policy in the United States.
Unless stated all shows are solo events. 1973 NewYork (Light Gallery] Most Expensive Photo by Mapplethorpe In October 2006, a Mapplethorpe print of Andy Warhol (1987) was auctioned for $643,200 at Christie's New York, making it the most expensive Mapplethorpe photograph ever sold.
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Profiles of Other Famous Camera Artists For early pioneers, see: 19th-Century Photographers. Also, in addition to those mentioned above, here is a short list of the best known camera artists of the 20th century. • Edward
Weston (1886-1958) Still lifes |
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• For more about figurative photography,
see: Homepage.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ART |
