Robert Mapplethorpe - The Betty Lee and Aaron Stern Collection New York Tuesday, December 17, 2013 | Phillips

The Betty Lee and Aaron Stern Collection

New York 17 December 2013 10am

  • Provenance

    Swid Powel, New York

  • Literature

    Annette Tapert, Swid Powell: Objects by Architects, New York, 1990, pp. 142-43

  • 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

66

Robert Mapplethorpe

Set of eighteen "Flower," "Orchid" and "Calla Lily" plates

circa 1985
Photographic transfer-printed porcelain.
Each: 12 in. (30.5 cm) diameter
Comprising six examples of each design. Manufactured by Swid Powell, USA. The underside of each plate transfer-printed with Swid Powell, artist's signature, and respectively with "Calla Lily, 1984," "Flower, 1986" and "Orchid, 1987." Together with the original boxes.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

Sold for $32,500

Contact Specialist
Ben Williams
Senior Specialist, Head of Sale
bwilliams@phillips.com
+ 44 207 318 4027

The Betty Lee and Aaron Stern Collection

New York 17 December 2013 10am