Pictures

As New. 1st Edition, 1st Printing. 220 pages. Published in 1999. Posthumous collection of the photographer’s most important work. One of the most valuable photography books of the 20th century. Limited Edition of 2500 copies. Precedes and should not be confused with all other susbequent editions. A splendid production by James Crump: Oversize-volume format. Cloth boards with titles on spine, as issued. Photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe. Essay by Ingrid Sischy. Printed on thick coated stock paper by EBS in Verona, Italy to the very highest standards.In pictorial DJ with titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents the photographer’s most controversial images, which were ultimately banned or cancelled in the course of a national tour and led to changes in the government’s policy on erotic art sponsorship (for the worse, towards more censorship). Astounding in their juxtaposition of erotic drama and clarity of composition, the book demonstrates his most painfully, deeply, and shockingly explicit work. Because he achieved fame only towards the end of a career abruptly cut short by AIDS, many people think of Mapplethorpe as an Eighties icon. Although he began taking photographs in 1970, he remained a cult figure for the rest of his short life, achieved “breakthrough” status with “Black Book” (1986), then became unbelievably and notoriously world-famous, a cultural, not just a photographic, phenomenon, in 1988-89, when he fell ill with AIDS and died. A Mapplethorpe photograph is like the drawing or painting of a Master draftsman or artist: It is characterized by painstaking attention to detail, an impeccable eye, and an unerring sense of composition. The photographs are works achieved with the highest standards of artistic perfection and unsurpassed technical mastery. The Mapplethorpe “look” is both coolly iconic, sculptural, and geometric, and warmly transcendent, spiritual, and ethereal at the same time. The Introduction by the art critic/Interview Magazine editor Ingrid Sischy argues persuasively that unlike other photographers, Mapplethorpe was never interested in showing (to us, hopeless voyeurs) what he saw but rather in recording for posterity what he experienced, believed in, and ultimately died for. He and his tirelessly experimental and inventive sexual partners practiced what Genet and the other great European nihilists could only evoke in delirious reverie. An unflinching look at sex that will make even the most jaded viewer flinch, this is a “must-have” title for Robert Mapplethorpe collectors. This title has been out-of-print for a very long time. Copies are difficult to find because the publisher no longer exists. This is one of very few remaining copies still available online, is still in the publisher’s original shrinkwrap, and has no flaws, a pristine beauty. A rare copy thus. 100 duotone plates. One of the most provocative and important photographers of the 20th century. A flawless collectible copy.