66
Robert Mapplethorpe
Set of eighteen "Flower," "Orchid" and "Calla Lily" plates
- Estimate
- $12,000 - 18,000
$32,500
Lot Details
Photographic transfer-printed porcelain.
circa 1985
Each: 12 in. (30.5 cm) diameter
Comprising six examples of each design. Manufactured by Swid Powell, USA. The underside of each plate transfer-printed with Swid Powell, artist's signature, and respectively with "Calla Lily, 1984," "Flower, 1986" and "Orchid, 1987." Together with the original boxes.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Provenance
Literature
Robert Mapplethorpe
American | B. 1946 D. 1989After 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."
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