Biography mapplethorpe photographer robert
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The Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe
Introduction
I’m looking for the unexpected. I’m looking for things I’ve never seen before
Robert Mapplethorpe, Art News, 1988
Robert Mapplethorpe is best known for his powerful black-and-white portraits and self-portraits. His photographs both challenge us and present us with images of classical beauty.
Using Mapplethorpe's photographs in the ARTIST ROOMS collection this resource takes an in-depth look at some of the key themes Mapplethorpe explored in his work.
Who is Robert Mapplethorpe?
Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Queens, New York. One of six children, he was brought up in a strict Catholic environment. When he was sixteen he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied drawing, painting, and sculpture.
From Polaroid to professional
Early in his career Robert Mapplethorpe was influenced by a range of artists including assemblage artist Joseph Cornell and dada artist Marcel Ducha
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Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Floral Park, Queens. Of his childhood he said, "I come from suburban America. It was a very safe environment and it was a good place to come from in that it was a good place to leave."
Tulips, 1987
In 1963, Mapplethorpe enrolled at Pratt Institute in nearby Brooklyn, where he studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. Influenced by artists such as Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp, he also experimented with various materials in mixed-media collages, including images cut from books and magazines. In 1969, he and Patti Smith, whom he had met three years earlier, moved into the Chelsea Hotel.
Mapplethorpe acquired a Polaroid camera in 1970 from artist and filmmaker Sandy Daley and began producing his own photographs to incorporate into the collages, saying he felt "it was more honest." Mapplethorpe quickly found satisfaction taking Polaroid photographs, however, he rarely included them in his mixed-media wor
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Biography
Born in Queens in 1946, Robert Mapplethorpe attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he majored in graphic arts, concentrating on drawing, painting, and sculpture. His largely psychedelic work reflected his interest in William Blake and the Surrealists. In 1967, Mapplethorpe met Patti Smith, with whom he will had a long begrepp relationship. Inspired by namn Cornell and Marcel Duchamp, he started experimenting with various materials in mixed-media collages, boxes, and altarpieces. Mapplethorpe dropped out of Pratt in 1969, without finishing his degree. The following year, he continued to work with collages, now including paint and sexual imagery derived from books and magazines. He began making his own photographs, primarily self-portraits, after acquiring a Polaroid camera. In 1973, Mapplethorpe had his first solo galleri exhibition, Polaroids, at the Light galleri in New York. Three years later, he acquired a Hasselblad camera and began taking portraits of fr