Robert Mapplethorpe - Photographs New York Tuesday, October 2, 2012 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Acquired directly from the artist

  • 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

77

Mirror Image

1987
Gelatin silver print diptych with a tinted mirror as center panel.
Each print 14 7/8 x 19 in. (37.8 x 48.3 cm)
Mirror 15 x 9 1/2 in. (38.1 x 24.1 cm)
18 1/2 x 53 in. (47 x 134.6 cm) overall

Signed in ink, printed title, date and number 14/18 on a gallery label affixed to the reverse of the artist's custom frame.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $18,750

Contact Specialist
Vanessa Kramer Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs
vhallett@phillips.com
+ 1 212 940 1245

Photographs

2 October 2012
New York