Throwback Thursday Remembers Robert Mapplethorpe

Tuesday of this week would have been Robert Mapplethorpe's 79th birthday. Born Nov. 4th, 1946, Mapplethorpe came to embody all that is beautiful and dangerous, sexy and subversive about the more underground side of gay life through the 70's and 80's. His photographs have been commissioned by New York City's elite power couples, lauded by free speech advocates, and excoriated by the pillars of Christianity. And he was one of singer/songwriter Patty Smith's closest friends and allies. So what got everybody so riled up? Throwback Thursday takes a brief look back at his storied and vilified career.

Mapplethorpe was a photographer known for his evocative black-and-white photos of subject matter that ran the gamut, from celebrities, socialites, and their children, to flowers, to hardcore underground BDSM nudes, starting in the late 1960s.. For the sake of this post, I can only show you the safest images of his work. But if you want something a bit more kink pervy, check out this link to a .pdf doc of an article by Jack Fritscher appearing in Drummer magazine, September 1978. Be warned that the photos contained are extremely NSFW!

Mapplethorpe and Patty Smith when they were a couple.

Robert took areas of dark human consent and made them into art. He worked without apology, investing the homosexual with grandeur, masculinity, and enviable nobility. Without affectation, he created a presence that was wholly male without sacrificing feminine grace. He was not looking to make a political statement or an announcement of his evolving sexual persuasion. He was presenting something new, something not seen or explored as he saw and explored it. Robert sought to elevate aspects of male experience, to imbue homosexuality with mysticism. As Cocteau said of a Genet poem, "His obscenity is never obscene."

Patty Smith, from her book of their life together Just Kids

It was flowers and celebrities that got him into many galleries, but it was big dicks and a self-portrait of a bullwhip stuck in his ass that created a world of free speech controversy that is still in hot debate today. In the summer of 1989, his solo show Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment, was to show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in DC. Curated by Janet Kardon of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the show was cancelled by the Corcoran due to its explicit and incendiary content, including some heavily sexual content. This created a firestorm surrounding the public funding of what some detractors referred to as "obscene art."

Bill T. Jones, photographed in 1985.

Richard Gere, photographed in the mid-80s.

In 1990, Dennis Barrie, the director at the time of the Contemporary Center for the Arts in Cincinnati, OH, and the gallery itself were charged with obscenity for showing the exhibition. Both entities were found not guilty by a jury.

The Corcoran's decision sparked a controversial national debate: Should tax dollars support the arts? Who decides what is 'obscene' or 'offensive' in public exhibitions? And if art can be considered a form of free speech, is it a violation of the First Amendment to revoke federal funding on grounds of obscenity? To this day, these questions remain very much at issue.

Statement by the ICA.

Arnold Schwarzenegger photographed in 1976.

In loving tribute or as exploited subject matter, Mapplethorpe loved working with Black men.

Long after his death, Mapplethorpe to this day is still one of the most celebrated and controversial queer artists we have. His works hang in public museums and private collections, as well as the homes of friends and lovers. Books and films have been made about his work and influence, and internationally, his more explicit photographs will still attract the attention of police and jurisdictions deeming them obscene and trying to have books with the photographs confiscated.

In 1972, Mapplethorpe met art curator Sam Wagstaff, who would become his mentor, lover, patron, and lifetime companion. He would have several lovers throughout his life, but Wagstaff was his solid ground. The two would be together until Wagstaff's death in 1987. They would be a driving force in NYC's art scene, helping to promote Patty Smith and her rising star as a the punk-poet goddess of the Bowery, while running in much higher circles of refined art. The 2007 documentary Black White + Gray examines Mapplethorpe and Wagstaff's relationship and influence on the NY scene.

It is with great joy that we can still celebrate the work of this singular artist, that the detractors and zealots never won their cases, never were able to make their homophobia and morality stick. Want more "obscene art?" Check out this .pdf from Drummer.

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