Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (/ ˈmeɪpəlˌθɔːrp / MAY-pəl-thorp; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His …

Throughout the 1980s, Mapplethorpe produced images that simultaneously challenge and adhere to classical aesthetic standards: stylized compositions of male and female nudes, delicate …

Robert Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Queens, New York. One of six children, he was brought up in a strict Catholic environment. When he was sixteen he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in …

Inspired by the mixed-media approaches of Joseph Cornell and Marcel Duchamp, Mapplethorpe combined Polaroids with cut text to create collages in the 1970s. He would also utilize different …

Dec 12, 2025 · Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer who was noted for austere photographs of flowers, celebrities, and male nudes.

A portion of the archive gifted solely to the Getty Research Institute provides comprehensive coverage of Mapplethorpe's artistic and commercial career and holds several hundred …

Apr 8, 2022 · Mapplethorpe is most known as a classic black and white photographer, but he also dabbled with sculpting, collages, and film, and was also commissioned to photograph …

Jul 4, 2025 · Robert Mapplethorpe is universally recognized as one of the most influential and provocative photographers of the 20th century. His stylistic signature is unmistakable: he …

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Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( MAY-pəl-thorp; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured …