Mapplethorpe: A Biography
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Photography & Video
Mapplethorpe: A Biography Details
From Publishers Weekly The late photographer-provocateur, who died from AIDS-related illness in 1989, chose Morrisroe, a frequent contributor to New York magazine, as his biographer. The result is a deeply sympathetic portrait of one of the most controversial artists of the 20th century. His work offsets with luminous elegance and compositional rigor its sometimes shocking content: not only absurdly lush blossoms and haughty socialites but also male nudes and explicit sadomasochistic scenes that reflected his own obsessive forays into the Manhattan underworld. The book explores his rise in the vital art world of 1970s Manhattan as well as his bond with rocker Patti Smith, whom Dali described as "a Gothic crow"; his sometimes loving, sometimes mutually exploitative relationship with his lover and patron, Sam Wagstaff; and the moving coincidence of his greatest critical successes occurring with the insidious and slow depredations of his illness. Although one sometimes longs for the nuanced appreciation of his work that an art historian would have offered, Morrisroe admirably balances frankness with sympathy in this memorable book. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC and QPB selections. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Library Journal Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89) gained his greatest fame when a retrospective of his works led to obscenity charges against Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center. But even while he defied the art world with graphic photographs revealing his deepest sexual fantasies, Mapplethorpe was acclaimed for his celebrity portraits and flower images. Six months before his death from AIDS, the highly controversial photographer selected Morrisroe, a feature writer for New York and the New York Times, among other publications, to document his life. Whereas Jack Fritscher's candid memoir, Mapplethorpe: Assault with a Deadly Camera (LJ 10/1/94), is largely drawn from personal reminiscence and is more narrowly focused, Morrisroe's compelling work is based on interviews with Mapplethorpe himself as well as hundreds of family members, lovers, and colleagues. Morrisroe provides intimate, often painful, details of his rigid Catholic upbringing, the sexual obsessions that drove him to the the gay S-M scene, and his intense relationships with rock singer Patti Smith and aristocratic lover Sam Wagstaff. Given the continuing prominence of arts funding and censorship issues, this definitive biography is strongly recommended for most collections.-?Joan Levin, MLS, ChicagoCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
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Reviews
Patricias' work deserves all 5 starts. Fantastic book. I highly recommend buying it, someplace else, if you're at all interested. Apparently this is a print on demand book. Very poor production value. The actual writing is amazing I just finished and I wish it wasn't over. I went so far as to read to the very back cover which I how I discovered it was a print on demand. I'll have to find a good copy of the book someplace else. The photographs are terrible in terms of reproduction quality. See sample - It's being generous.
