Photography

Photography

Polaroids: Mapplethorpe at Whitney Museum

A little-known body of early work by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89) is presented in
Polaroids: Mapplethorpe at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Curated by Sylvia
Wolf, recently named director of the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, in collaboration with
the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the exhibition, features approximately 100
works – many never exhibited before – including self-portraits, figure studies, still
lifes, and portraits of Mapplethorpe’s lovers and friends such as Patti Smith, Sam
Wagstaff, and Marianne Faithfull. It remains on view in the Sondra Gilman Gallery
through Sept. 7.

Best known for the highly stylized and neoclassically inspired works he made
between the late 1970s and his death in 1989, Mapplethorpe’s mature work was in
fact preceded by an important but largely unknown body of over 1,500 photographs
made with Polaroid cameras between 1970 and 1975, when Mapplethorpe was in
his 20s. Unlike the carefully controlled images that Mapplethorpe would later come
to stage in the studio, the artist’s Polaroids reveal remarkable spontaneity and
creativity. Many of these small, intimate photographs convey tenderness and
vulnerability, while others depict a toughness and immediacy that would give way in
later years to more classical form. In these images, in the words of curator Sylvia
Wolf, we can witness “Mapplethorpe learning to see photographically.”

As Mapplethorpe explained in 1988, photography “was the perfect medium, or so it
seemed, for the ‘70s and ‘80s, when everything was fast. If I were to make
something that took two weeks to do, I’d lose my enthusiasm. It would become an
act of labor and the love would be gone.” Polaroid cameras, in particular, provided
rapid results, allowing Mapplethorpe to see his photographs as he was making
them, which in turn gave free access to feeling and thinking. This visual
responsiveness to the moment is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this
body of work. The results are disarming pictures that give early evidence of the
artist’s avid curiosity about light, composition, and design.

Polaroids: Mapplethorpe allows an examination of an important aspect of
Mapplethorpe’s career, and provides an invaluable glimpse into the artist’s creative
development. A fully illustrated publication by Sylvia Wolf, Polaroids: Mapplethorpe,
published by Prestel, places Mapplethorpe’s early work in the context of his life-
long artistic production. The book contains 183 plates (all Polaroids) and 43 figure
illustrations, including works by a range of other artists, from Mantegna to Schiele,
which place Mapplethorpe’s Polaroids in
an art historical context.

The Whitney Museum of American Art exhibits 20th- and 21st-century
American art. Founded in 1930, the museum has a preeminent collection of
American art including major works and materials from the estate of Edward
Hopper, the largest public collection of works by Alexander Calder, Louise
Nevelson, and Lucas Samaras, as well as significant works by Jasper Johns,
Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Bruce Nauman, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg,
Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol, among other artists. With its history of exhibiting the
most promising and influential American artists and provoking intense critical and
public debate, the Whitney's signature show, the Biennial, is an important survey of
the state of contemporary art in America today.

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art:

Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe: June 26-Sept. 21, 2008

Paul McCarthy: Three Installations, Two Films: June 26-Oct. 12, 2008

Alexander Calder: The Paris Years: Oct. 16, 2008-Feb. 15, 2009

William Eggleston: Nov. 7, 2008-Jan. 25, 2009

For information, please call 1-800 WHITNEY or visit www.whitney.org.

Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled (self-
portrait), 1972. Monochromatic
dye diffusion transfer print
(Polaroid), 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (8.3 x
10.8 cm). Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York;
gift, Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation, New York

Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled
(Patti Smith), 1973.
Monochromatic dye diffusion
transfer print (Polaroid), 5 1/8 x 4
1/8 in. (13 x 10.5 cm). Collection
of Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation

The Whitney Museum is located at
945 Madison Avenue, New York
City. Museum hours are
Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday,
and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.
m., Friday from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.,
closed Monday and Tuesday.
Admission is $15 for adults; free for
members, children (ages 11 and
under), and New York City public
high school students. Senior
citizens (62 and older) and
students with valid ID: $10. There
is a $6 admission fee for a pass to
the Kaufman Astoria
Studios Film & Video Gallery only.
Admission is pay-what-you-wish on
Fridays,
6-9 p.m.

Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled (Marianne Faithfull), 1974. Monochromatic dye diffusion transfer
print (Polaroid), 5 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. (13 x 10.5 cm). Private Collection

Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled, 1973/75. Monochromatic dye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid), 5
1/8 x 4 1/8 in. (13 x 10.5 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; gift, Robert
Mapplethorpe Foundation, New York