DAY 363

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)

OF BLOOMS AND BONDAGE

It’s difficult to say which of Robert Mapplethorpe’s images are more suggestive; the curling tendrils and projectile stamens of his floral images or the frank, homoerotic studies created during his fascination with the S&M community in New York City in the late 1970s. Either way, he had the remarkable ability to find a common denominator between the two and portrayed the subjects in a simple and technically masterful way.

Mapplethorpe was known for using unusual technical processes, such as Cibachrome prints (a type of color print on a special paper that gives the finished photo a metallic sheen), dye transfer, and platinum prints. But he was also well-known for his celebrity studio portraits of Richard Gere, Grace Jones, Philip Glass, and Andy Warhol, and his two favorite subjects: himself and singer/poet Patti Smith.

Mapplethorpe’s relationship with Smith began before his rise to fame, when the two were lovers living at the Chelsea Hotel.¹ At the time, Mapplethorpe was photographing primarily with a Polaroid camera, and soon had his first solo exhibit, aptly named “Polaroid” at the Light Gallery in New York. A Mapplethorpe photo was the cover art for Smith’s album, Horses, the first of many cover-album collaborations he had with a variety of musicians.

Calla lilies, vibrant poppies, nude-figure studies, and graphic bondage were all given equal treatment as subjects of fine art, proving that Mapplethorpe was a master photographer in the entirety of man, myth, and legend. —GC