Robert Mapplethorpe - Photographs London Wednesday, May 17, 2017 | Phillips

Photographs

London Auction 18 May 2017

  • Provenance

    Hamiltons Gallery, London

  • Literature

    P. Martineau and B. Salvesen, Robert Mapplethorpe: The Photographs, Los Angeles: Getty, 2016, pl. 144
    M. Holborn and D. Levas, eds., Mapplethorpe Flora: The Complete Flowers, New York: Phaidon, 2016, p. 9

  • Artist Biography

    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."

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68

Robert Mapplethorpe

Orchid

1987
Gelatin silver print, flush-mounted.
48.7 x 49 cm (19 1/8 x 19 1/4 in.)
Signed, dated and numbered 4/10 in ink in the margin; signed, titled, dated, numbered 4/10 in ink and copyright credit reproduction limitation stamp on the reverse of the flush-mount.

Estimate
£6,000 - 8,000 

Sold for £11,250

Contact Specialist
Genevieve Janvrin
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe
+44 20 7901 7996

Yuka Yamaji
Co-Head of Photographs, Europe
+44 20 7318 4098

Photographs

London Auction 18 May 2017