Robert Mapplethorpe

Truman Capote

1981

© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation

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Not on display

Artist: Robert Mapplethorpe 1946–1989
Medium: Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Dimensions: Image: 374 × 373 mm
frame: 645 × 620 × 38 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: AR00212

Online caption

The American writer, Truman Capote (1924-1984), is best known for works such as ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ (1958) and ‘In Cold Blood’ (1966). He was very publicity-conscious, ever since 1948, when he posed for a suggestive and provocative photograph to adorn the dust jacket of his book ‘Other Voices, Other Rooms’. In later years he was fairly reclusive. This photograph shows him relaxed, presumably at home, but by placing him alongside a strange, white sculpture of a palm tree Mapplethorpe manages to suggest something of Capote’s notorious eccentricity.