Beautiful men engaged in sexually charged scenarios or posed classically within the frame beckon to the viewer. These tiny icons reveal the young artist in his most Caravaggioesque guise-naive, tender, randy, overripe, receptive, bristling with sexual potency, imperfect, but lush — almost taunting a receptive audience to provide a night's pleasure or for an evening's divertissement.

—Thomas Sokolowski.

Exhibition Dates: 8 May – 1 June 1996

In the chilly silence of those perfect moments of Robert Mapplethorpe's mature work, all sense of humanity disappears as god and demiurge alike pose unabashedly before unleashing their desires - never cavorting, merely proffering, never offering closure, neither soothing nor abrasive, neither lubricious nor salubrious, merely fastidious. Nothing is left for the viewer to complement; he or she is merely shut out by the flawless array. Only a keen practitioner of the ancient Greek poetic device of ekphrasis — the telling of the stories behind the pictures — can humanize these illustrious synecdoches. But what of the first telling erotic impulse, the fevered sketch which evolved into glacial synopsis? The answer lies in the body of early Polaroid photographs which Robert Mapplethorpe took beginning in 1971. Scanning through the Polaroid images, a clarity of vision emerges, even in these earliest compositions, which would become the hallmark of the later work.

Image after image foretells the future. Just as some portrait photographers might utilize the Polaroid to "get the setting right" before committing the sitter to the permanency of film, Mapplethorpe extended this first flash over a sometimes five-year-long hiatus before returning to freeze his subject within the surface of the gelatin silver print. Beautiful men engaged in sexually charged scenarios or posed classically within the frame beckon to the viewer. These tiny icons reveal the young artist in his most Caravaggioesque guise-naive, tender, randy, overripe, receptive, bristling with sexual potency, imperfect, but lush — almost taunting a receptive audience to provide a night's pleasure or for an evening's divertissement. Perhaps the unbridled yearning of Mapplethorpe's youth was, for a time, complemented by the immediacy of the process itself, the small Polaroid camera allowing him intimate access to people and scenes which the cold rigidity of the tripod-mounted camera disallowed. Captured rather than posed, the modus encouraged the subjects within the familiarity of their surroundings to open themselves up to the eye of the camera as well as the eye of the photographer.

While Mapplethorpe's patron and lover, Sam Wagstaff, would become the subject of the artist's lens, the two pictures included in this exhibition present him, not as wizened Maecenas, but as a comely odalisque splayed out across the sheets, defiantly staring into the camera like Victorine Meurent in Manet's Olympia. An adjoining image focuses in sharply upon Wagstaff's glistening glans penis, throwing the entire remainder of the composition into murky shadow. Like some primordial lingam, Mapplethorpe offers up his lover's cock for the rest of the world to worship while, at the same time, establishing himself as proprietary. Unlike the cool taxonomy of the latter photographs of prodigious black erections, this work celebrates the demulcent eroticism of consummated love. The sequence of images which comprise the sexual predella of two swarthy lovers moves inexorably from feral kisses to fellatio, not clinical in perfection, but bestial in ferocity. Only in post coital scenes of the sequence do we glimpse the dispassion of the mature work minus only feeling of epidermal stimulation.

The frequent portraits of Patty Smith within the oeuvre hardly prepare the viewer for an early Polaroid of Smith as a demonic poet. Hair flying, eyes bugged out, shot through with equal parts of madness and rage, Mapplethorpe depicts his muse-lover from the true bottom of the human soul unfettered by the delicacies of civilized manners. In this simulacrum, the eloquent yet tortured voice of the poet has been given its true face. Mapplethorpe offers up his own image as the perfect foil to Patty Smith's dissolution, head thrown back, untamed, viscerally reacting to some intrusion. Perhaps even more psychologically telling is the image of the artist seated in his bathtub, reaching out for some companion, eager for engagement, fearless of the consequences. Moving from the Dionysiac to the Apollonian mode, the pensive portrait of a young blond boy is strangely affective when compared with Mapplethorpe's later cadres of ka/os kagathos. Something outside of the picture plane has captured his, and Mapplethorpe's, attention and becomes the most dynamic element in the work. Influenced, presumably, by stills from the Andy Warhol/ Paul Morrissey collaborative films Flesh (1968) and Trash (1969-70) as well as Warhol's own mesmerizing early classic Blow Job (1964), the totemic male beauty becomes the passive fodder for the manipulations of the artist. The poignancy of this portrait is unmatched by any other of Mapplethorpe's many image of this type.

Just as raw sexuality and combustible emotion pullulate through these early Polaroids, so to does humor. Whether it be the boy turned ass-upwards, metamorphosing into a sort of human volcano cum flower vase, or the tousle-topped fellow who gleefully dumps his genitalia out of his jeans straight into our faces, these images bespeak the young artist who aims for dispassion, but is unable to avoid being naughty, albeit for a moment. If there is a fulcrum around which a transition indeed takes place, it is the last remaining picture of a hand clutching at a black piece of cloth. Tense and gentle alike, this hand suggests the future. Poised, anxious, and, perhaps paradoxically, holding the future in his grip, Mapplethorpe still reveals his fears via the pulsing of the fingers. Robert Mapplethorpe was clearly aware of the direction his aesthetic credo was leading him in, inexorably drawn to the fame that would accompany the vision, and yet unsure what pains, what loses, would need to be suffered in the process. Right from the start, it was all there.

— Thomas Sokolowski, April, 1996, New York City.

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Robert Mapplethorpe Thomas & Dovanna, 1986; Gelatin silver print; 61 x 51 cm; enquire
Thomas & Dovanna, 1986
Gelatin silver print
61 x 51 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1970; Polaroid; 11 x 9 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1970
Polaroid
11 x 9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Patti Smith, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 8.5 cm; enquire
Patti Smith, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 8.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled (Hand), 1973; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Untitled (Hand), 1973
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Mattress, ; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Mattress,
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled (Headstand), 1974; Polaroid; 8.5 x 11 cm; enquire
Untitled (Headstand), 1974
Polaroid
8.5 x 11 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 8.5 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 8.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Charles & Jim, 1974; Polaroid; 10.5 x 13 cm; enquire
Charles & Jim, 1974
Polaroid
10.5 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Charles & Jim, 1974; Polaroid; 10.5 x 13 cm; enquire
Charles & Jim, 1974
Polaroid
10.5 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 9 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe London, 1973; Polaroid; 9 x 11 cm; enquire
London, 1973
Polaroid
9 x 11 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 9 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Patti Smith, 1974; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Patti Smith, 1974
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe David Croland, 1974; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
David Croland, 1974
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Feet, 1975; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Feet, 1975
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1980; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1980
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Moore/Nephew, 1982; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Moore/Nephew, 1982
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Marcus Leatherdale, 1978; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Marcus Leatherdale, 1978
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Renaldo Herrera, 1977; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Renaldo Herrera, 1977
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Victor Huston, 1979; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Victor Huston, 1979
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Marcus Leatherdale / Erection, 1979; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Marcus Leatherdale / Erection, 1979
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Bob Love, 1979; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Bob Love, 1979
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Larry, 1981; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Larry, 1981
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe James Deitz, 1983; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
James Deitz, 1983
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Sam Wagstaff, 1983; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Sam Wagstaff, 1983
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe R M Glass Collection, 1984; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
R M Glass Collection, 1984
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Hand In Fire, 1985; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Hand In Fire, 1985
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Two Men Dancing, 1986; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Two Men Dancing, 1986
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1988; gelatin silver print; 61 x 51 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1988
gelatin silver print
61 x 51 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1973; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1973
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled (Statue), 1973; 8.5 x 11 cm; enquire
Untitled (Statue), 1973
8.5 x 11 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 8.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 8.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1973; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1973
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Self Portrait, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 13 cm; enquire
Self Portrait, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Charles & Jim, 1974; Polaroid; 10.5 x 13 cm; enquire
Charles & Jim, 1974
Polaroid
10.5 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Charles & Jim, 1974; Polaroid; 10.5 x 13 cm; enquire
Charles & Jim, 1974
Polaroid
10.5 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1973; Polaroid; 9 x 13 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1973
Polaroid
9 x 13 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Sam Wagstaff, 1973; Polaroid; 9 x 11 cm; enquire
Sam Wagstaff, 1973
Polaroid
9 x 11 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Sam Wagstaff, 1973; Polaroid; 11 x 9 cm; enquire
Sam Wagstaff, 1973
Polaroid
11 x 9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Eddie, NY, 1972; Polaroid; 11 x 9 cm; enquire
Eddie, NY, 1972
Polaroid
11 x 9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1974; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1974
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Untitled, 1973; Polaroid; 13 x 10.5 cm; enquire
Untitled, 1973
Polaroid
13 x 10.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Patrice, 1977; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Patrice, 1977
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Smutty, 1980; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Smutty, 1980
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Lydia Cheng, 1985; Gelatin silver print; 61 x 51 cm; enquire
Lydia Cheng, 1985
Gelatin silver print
61 x 51 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Black Bust, 1988; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Black Bust, 1988
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe John Paul Getty III, 1976; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
John Paul Getty III, 1976
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Erskine Guiness, 1977; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Erskine Guiness, 1977
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Cock And Knee, 1978; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Cock And Knee, 1978
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe William Burroughs, 1979; Gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
William Burroughs, 1979
Gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Peter Reed, 1980; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Peter Reed, 1980
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Marty and Veronica, 1982; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Marty and Veronica, 1982
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Truman Capote, 1981; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Truman Capote, 1981
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe John Shea, 1983; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
John Shea, 1983
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Ken Moody, 1985; gelatin silver print; 51 x 40.5 cm; enquire
Ken Moody, 1985
gelatin silver print
51 x 40.5 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Leaf, 1986; gelatin silver print; 50.8 x 60.9 cm; enquire
Leaf, 1986
gelatin silver print
50.8 x 60.9 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Patti Smith, 1988; gelatin silver print; 61 x 51 cm; enquire
Patti Smith, 1988
gelatin silver print
61 x 51 cm
Robert Mapplethorpe Sleeping Cupid, 1989; gelatin silver print; 61 x 51 cm; enquire
Sleeping Cupid, 1989
gelatin silver print
61 x 51 cm