Robert Mapplethorpe
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Whipping up a Frenzy
As an intern at the Corcoran, I suddenly understood the power of art. When a 1989 Washington DC Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit was cancelled, young art major Jack Ludden found himself beginning his career amidst one of the biggest culture wars of the…
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Mapplethorpe Biopic Stars Announced
The Mapplethorpe Foundation is backing a biopic on the photographer’s life, and Pitchfork reports that film’s stars have been cast: Doctor Who’s Matt Smith will be playing Robert Mapplethorpe, and Zosia Mamet of Girls will be playing Patti Smith. Like…
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Patti and Robert, Frida and Diego
The last painting Frida painted in her life was watermelons, and at the end of his life, Diego also painted watermelons. I always thought that was beautiful: this green fruit that opens up, the pulp, the flesh, the blood, these…
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The Lessons of Mapplethorpe
It might be ill-advised to reduce an artist’s life and work to a single observation, the magic key that unlocks everything, but in the case of Robert Mapplethorpe there is a pronounced duality—in the themes and subjects depicted in his…
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Wanted/Needed/Loved: Chris Frantz’s Pocket Camera
What I want/need/love most are the tools that allow me to document what I see and experience, at home and in my travels, now and in the future.
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Too Excited for Words
Have you heard the good news? Singer-songwriter Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, is going to be made into a mini-series. The Guardian reported that Smith will co-write the show with John Logan (who created…
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Outside of Society
Patti Smith’s memoir of her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe chronicles two “mutinous spirits” in the chaos of 1970s New York.