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 × 406 mm
frame: 750 × 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.