Robert Mapplethorpe - Saturday @ Phillips New York Saturday, April 26, 2008 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Artist Biography

    Robert Mapplethorpe

    American • 1946 - 1989

    After 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."

    View More Works

242

Christmas Tree

1987
Gelatin silver print with cut-out.
4 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (10.8 x 10.8 cm).
Signed and dated lower edge.

Estimate
$1,500 - 2,000 

Sold for $2,125

Saturday @ Phillips

26 Apr 2008, 10am & 2pm
New York