Home > Robert Mapplethorpe

Most of his photographs he made in studio. His most common themes were portraits of (now) famous people (including Andy Warhol, Deborah Harry, and Patti Smith), S&M-related subjects, and nude (frequently homoerotic) studies. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for his series of closeup photographs of flowers. These highly polished and stylized photographs showed the plants' reproductive parts in extreme detail, intended to echo his more conventional homoerotic works.

Mapplethorpe's specialty was considering his photography equal to paintings, and so giving them quite exotic framing and printing. He did indeed live in a time when photography was just being accepted as one of the real arts. He was a great networker, never losing a chance to promote his work, and never failing to invite all his acquaintances to his gallery openings.

Toward the end of his life, the frank, erotic nature of much of his later work triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of challenging (some would argue pornographic) artworks. Many conservative and religious organizations opposed public funding of his works and of their exhibition, and he became something of a cause celebre for both sides in the debate on the future of the National Endowment for the Arts. The 1990Events January January 3 Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces. January 7 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. January 9 Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello The man who led the coup aginst Dr Apo exhibition of his The Perfect Moment show (which included seven sadomasochistic portraits) in CincinnatiThis article is about Cincinnati, Ohio. For the town of the same name in Iowa, see Cincinnati, Iowa. Cincinnati 'The Queen of the West', is a city in Southwestern Ohio on the Ohio River and is the county seat of Hamilton County 6. Introduction As of the 2 resulted in the prosecution of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and its director Dennis Barrie on charges of "pandering obscenity". Barrie and the CCAC were subsequently acquitted, but this failed to stifle the raging debate about Mapplethorpe's work.

Robert Mapplethorpe died from complications arising from AIDSAIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome sometimes written Aids is a human disease characterized by progressive destruction of the body's immune system. It is widely accepted that AIDS results from infection with HIV in 1989.

Suggested reading: Patricia Morrisroe: Robert Mapplethorpe: A Biography

1 See also

• The erotic male in photographyList of female photographers known for depicting the erotic male Sarah Kent Grace Lau Annie Leibovitz Collier Schorr Ellen von Unwerth Diane Arbus Laurie Toby Edison Dianora Niccolini List of male photographers known for depicting the erotic male Amos Bad

2 links

actual exhibitions with Robert Mapplethorpe