18
Robert Mapplethorpe
Man in Polyester Suit
- Estimate
- $200,000 - 300,000
$355,600
Lot Details
Gelatin silver print, printed 1980.
1980
17 3/4 x 14 in. (45.1 x 35.6 cm)
Sheet size 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Sheet size 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Signed, dated by Michael Ward Stout, Executor, in ink, estate copyright credit reproduction limitation and lifetime copyright credit reproduction stamp on the reverse of the flush-mount. Number 3 from an edition of 15.
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Further Details
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
Provenance
Exhibited
Literature
Robert Mapplethorpe
American | B. 1946 D. 1989After studying drawing, painting and sculpture at the Pratt Institute in the 1960s, Robert Mapplethorpe began experimenting with photography while living in the notorious Chelsea Hotel with Patti Smith. Beginning with Polaroids, he soon moved on to a Hasselblad medium-format camera, which he used to explore aspects of life often only seen behind closed doors.By the 1980s Mapplethorpe's focus was predominantly in the studio, shooting portraits, flowers and nudes. His depiction of the human form in formal compositions reflects his love of classical sculpture and his groundbreaking marriage of those aesthetics with often challenging subject matter. Mapplethorpe's style is present regardless of subject matter — from erotic nudes to self-portraits and flowers — as he ceaselessly strove for what he called "perfection of form."
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