Who is Robert Mapplethorpe? | The US sun

From a young age, Robert Mapplethorpe wanted to stand out from the crowd.

He took that into his adult life and as a photographer pushed the boundaries of what was accepted as normal in the industry.

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Who is Robert Mapplethorpe?

Robert Mapplethorpe was born on November 4, 1946 in Queens, New York.

As one of six children, he tried to attract attention from an early age to get his parents’ attention.

As a skinny and socially awkward kid, he studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

This sparked his interest in photography as he wanted to use the images he had captured in his paintings.

Andy Warhol’s works inspired his own creativity, which he later translated into his photography.

His early Polaroids were self-portraits or shots of friends.

It was not until the mid-1970s that photography became the focus of his work.

Why is Robert Mapplethrope important?

As a young artist, Mapplethorpe yearned for fame and networked with various people who would eventually pave the way to that goal.

One such relationship was with artist/poet Patti Smith, who later became a rock musician.

It can be seen in his photographs as much as he can be heard in her music.

His photos of artists, celebrities, pornstars and off limits genres made his work stand out from the rest.

In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Mapplethorpe began exploring the gay S&M scene in his work.

His unique style of black and white photography and self-portraits continues to provide inspiration and influence today.

How did Robert Mapplethrope die?

Robert Mapplethorpe died on March 9, 1989 at the age of 42.

The cause of death was a result of complications from the AIDS/HIV virus.

At the time, rumors were circulating in the New York art scene that he had been suffering from the virus for some time.

How do you pronounce Robert Mapplethorpe?

His name is pronounced ma-pel-thorpe because of the double P.

It was often mispronounced as may-pel-thorpe, which over the years began to annoy the artist.

What kind of camera did Robert Mapplethorpe use?

When he started out as an aspiring artist and student, most of his pictures were taken with a Polaroid camera.

The humble Mapplethorpe used a camera that was considered fairly basic, but in the artist’s opinion it gave his work a gritty realism and made his photography honest and raw.

His Polaroid SX-70 camera, with images developed purely in black and white, provided context at the time but set him apart from others.

Mapplethorpe is still on everyone’s lips today and his photographic portfolio is studied at art schools worldwide.