Robert Mapplethorpe - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 14, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Graphicstudio, Tampa, 1988

  • Literature

    Kardon, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, p. 89
    Martineau and Salvesen, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs, pl. 141
    Random House, Mapplethorpe, pl. 236
    Random House, Mapplethorpe: Pistils, p. 79
    Schirmer/Mosel, Robert Mapplethorpe: Ten by Ten, pl. 25
    teNeues, Mapplethorpe: The Complete Flowers, pl. 138
    teNeues, Robert Mapplethorpe: Perfection in Form, cat. 3

  • 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."

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48

Irises

1982
Photogravure on silk collé.
33 3/4 x 32 in. (85.7 x 81.3 cm)
Signed, dated and numbered 27/27 in pencil in the margin.

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for $30,000

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas

 

Photographs

New York Auction 14 October 2020