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Robert Mapplethorpe , (Nov 4, 1946–Mar 9, 1989)

Thomas

1987
20 in. x 24 in. (50.8 cm x 60.96 cm)

Medium and Support: gelatin silver print

Credit Line: gift of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc.

Accession Number: 1999.25.2

Commentary

While Mapplethorpe’s work ranges from informal Polaroids, portraits of New York celebrities, to still lifes of flowers, his photographs of nude men made him the best known and most controversial gay artist of the 1980s. Many of his nudes are sexually explicit and, taken together, establish an iconography of gay life in New York immediately before, during, and after the AIDS crisis of the early 1980s. This complex series of photographs depicting one of Mapplethorpe’s favorite models both celebrates the male body and shows the artist’s interest in classicized compositional challenges.

Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

GET THE PICTURE: Recent Photography Acquisitions Addison Gallery of American Art , 11/16/1999 - 1/9/2000
Figure/Space: Selected Works from the Addison Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/3/2002 - 12/29/2002
Physical Presence: Photographs from the Collection Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/16/2004 - 3/21/2004
In Focus: 75 Years of Collecting American Photography Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/28/2006 - 7/31/2006
Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew Addison Gallery of American Art , 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
Muse [Phillips Academy Art 300] Addison Gallery of American Art , 3/8/2011 - 3/27/2011
Secrets, Loss, Memory, and Courage: Works by Gay Male Artists Addison Gallery of American Art , 4/27/2013 - 7/31/2013
Light/Dark, White/Black Addison Gallery of American Art , 1/17/2015 - 7/31/2015

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