Robert Mapplethorpe

Derrick Cross

1983

© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

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Not on display

Artist
Robert Mapplethorpe 1946–1989
Medium
Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Dimensions
Unconfirmed: 508 x 406 mm
frame: 750 x 620 mm
Collection
ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
Acquisition
ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
Reference
AR00194

Online caption

This is one of many photographs in which Mapplethorpe focuses on a part of the body. The surrealist artist Man Ray had taken similar photographs of a torso, but had given greater emphasis to the face-like appearance of the body with nipples as eyes and navel as mouth. Mapplethorpe’s photograph is much more a study of muscular form. With the draped fabric around his waist, similarities can also be drawn with classical sculpture.

Queer aesthetics

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