Robert Mapplethorpe - Edition Schellmann: Fifty Are Better Than One London Thursday, June 6, 2019 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Jörg Schellmann, ed., Forty Are Better Than One, Munich/New York, 2009, pp. 230-231

  • 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

130

Mirror Image

1987/88
Two laminated gelatin silver prints on either side of red mirror-polished Plexiglas.
both prints S. 37.8 x 48.3 cm (14 7/8 x 19 in.)
mirror 37.8 x 24.1 cm (14 7/8 x 9 1/2 in.)
overall 47.3 x 134.8 x 2.5 cm (18 5/8 x 53 1/8 x 0 7/8 in.)

Signed and stamp-numbered 1/18 in black ink on the accompanying label, one of 5 colour variants (there were also 5 artist's proofs), published by Edition Schellmann, Munich and New York, all contained in a black wooden frame specified by the artist.

Estimate
£8,000 - 12,000 

Sold for £13,750

Contact Specialist

Anne Schneider-Wilson

Head of Sale, Senior Specialist 
London
+44 207 4042

Edition Schellmann: Fifty Are Better Than One

London Auction 6 June 2019