Robert mapplethorpe

Long before iPhones, Snapchat filters, Kim Kardashian, and Cindy Sherman, painters like Rembrandt were painstakingly accepting their worst angles and inventing their best, all in pursuit of the art of the selfie. It's a torch that Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, and Marina Abramovic have all nobly helped carry throughout the centuries, rendering their own likenesses in everything from pencil to Polaroid film to oil paint. "Facing the World," up now at the Scottish National Portrait…

Orchid, 1985

Robert Mapplethorpe. Phillip. 1979. Gelatin silver print. 14 × 14" (35.6 × 35.6 cm). The Family of Man Fund. 66.2016. © 2024 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Photography

This image depicts two figures wrapped in white, blanched gauze, their heads bound together into a cocoon like, sculptural form. Like many of Mapplethorpe’s photographs a careful balance is created here between bondage and freedom, ecstasy and pain. Mapplethorpe took reference from Auguste Rodin’s expressive and erotic late 19th and early 20th century sculptures throughout his career and this influence can be seen in the sensual movement and energy of this photograph.

The American photographer’s work altered perceptions and pushed boundaries in relation to the male gaze upon the male body

Anton Perich’s photographs of Max’s Kansas City remember a time when Debbie Harry was a waitress and William S. Burroughs, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andy Warhol were regulars

A new limited-edition book by photographer Lloyd Ziff documents the first ever shoot Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe did together, back when they were young lovers and aspiring artists navigating the heady days of Sixties New York.