Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs ( J. Paul Getty Museum, March 2016 ) offers an examination of the artist's oeuvre and influence.
Drawing from the extraordinary collection jointly acquired in 2011 by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, as well as the Mapplethorpe Archive housed at the Getty Research Institute, the authors were given the unique opportunity to explore new resources and present fresh perspectives.
Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs presents some of Mapplethorpe's most familiar portraits, including intimate self-portraits and those of his long-time benefactor and lover Samuel J. Wagstaff Jr., poet-musician Patti Smith and other members of New York's cultural elite, including artists David Hockney, Andy Warhol, and Louise Bourgeois, actress Isabella Rossellini and singer-songwriter Deborah Harry.
A companion publication, entitled Robert Mapplethorpe: The Archive, by Frances Terpak and Michelle Brunnick, will also be published in March, coinciding with the exhibition, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Medium.
