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Robert Mapplethorpe

1946–1989

Self Portrait 1986, printed 1996
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Rooms

1 artworks by Robert Mapplethorpe
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Biography

Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( MAY-pəl-thorp; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits, and still-life images. His most controversial works documented and examined the gay male BDSM subculture of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Mapplethorpe's 1989 exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, sparked a debate in the United States concerning both use of public funds for "obscene" artwork and the Constitutional limits of free speech in the United States.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License. Spotted a problem? Let us know.

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Queer aesthetics

Artworks

Left Right
  • Pictures / Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1977
  • Pictures / Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1977
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1980, printed 1999
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1982, printed 1991
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1983, printed 2005
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1985
  • White Gauze

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1984, printed 2006
  • Tarantula

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1988, printed 2005
See all 89

Artist as subject

Left Right
  • Pictures / Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1977
  • Pictures / Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1977
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1980, printed 1999
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1983, printed 2005
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1985
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1980, printed 1990
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1988
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1980
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1983
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1983
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1981, printed 1992
  • Robert Mapplethorpe

    Andy Warhol
    1983
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1988
  • Self Portrait

    Robert Mapplethorpe
    1988

Features

  • Look Closer

    The Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe

  • Tate Etc

    Details, Details: Robert Mapplethorpe’s Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter 1979

    Lucy Beech & Edward Thomasson

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