Robert Mapplethorpe

Also known as Bob Mapplethorpe, Robert Maplethorpe, Robert Michael Mapplethorpe

American photographer (1946–1989)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1946-11-04
Died: 1989-03-09
Works: 70

Top works

ALTARI
Lady
Mapplethorpe/von Gloeden
Robert Mapplethorpe
Mapplethorpe

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Queens, New York, USA

Robert Michael Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits, and still-life images.

Known for

Hervé Guibert, la mort propagande — Self (archive footage)2021
Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures — Self (archive footage)2016
Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe — Self (archive footage)2007
Program No. 61: Robert Mapplethorpe2006
Dirty Pictures — Self2000
Kathy Acker — Self1984

~31 min read

Article

Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (/ˈmeɪpəlˌθɔːrp/ MAY-pəl-thorp; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits, and still-life images. His most controversial works documented and examined the gay male BDSM subculture of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Mapplethorpe is said to have drawn inspiration from George Dureau, an American black and white photographer ten years his senior, who composed shots of fully nude African American and disabled men, in his home city of New Orleans.