Skip to profile content
Log In

Detail

Additional Artworks

From Art Alba Gallery

  1. Flower Bud by Caroline Chiu, Image 2.

    Caroline Chiu

    Flower Bud, 2003

    Polaroid

    92 x 69 cm

    US$6,000

  2. Bull's Moon by Alan Davie, Image 5.

    Alan Davie

    Bull's Moon, 2000

    Screenprint

    76 x 86 cm

    US$2,000

  3. Yellow Lambretta by John D. Callow, Image 1.

    John D. Callow

    Yellow Lambretta, 2000

    Photograph

    55 x 55 cm

    US$1,200

  4. Box Ends by Henry Gilpin, Image 1.

    Henry Gilpin

    Box Ends, 1997

    Photograph

    41 x 51 cm

    US$1,200

  5. Calm Sea by Douglas Thomson, Image 1.

    Douglas Thomson

    Calm Sea, 1995

    Oil on paper

    41 x 51 cm

    US$1,800

  6. Barbra Streisand by Joe Stein, Image 2.

    Joe Stein

    Barbra Streisand, 1995

    Cyanotype

    51 x 41 cm

    US$1,500

  7. Ken Moody by Robert Mapplethorpe, Image 4.

    Robert Mapplethorpe

    Ken Moody, 1984

    Photograph

    51 x 41 cm

    US$1,800

  8. Chet Baker, Hollywood by William Claxton, Image 4.

    William Claxton

    Chet Baker, Hollywood, 1954

    Photograph

    31 x 23 cm

    US$2,500

View All Artworks

About the artist

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."
Image of artist