Black Book

by Robert Mapplethorpe, Ntozake Shange (Foreward)

In Black Book, Robert Mapplethorpe presents an astonishing photographic study of black men today. In their diversity, impact, subtlety, technical virtuosity, erotic appeal, and deep humanity, these photographs constitute a stunning celebration of the contemporary black male.

"all my life they've been near me/these men" says Ntozake Shange in her Foreword, "i've been holdin your heart in/my hand since i was a child/cause i wanted what all you were/what all you are/now you're a man."

Genres: Art, Photography, Queer, Visual Art

91 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 1986

About the author

Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer whose mastery of black-and-white composition and provocative subject matter made him a central, often polarizing, figure in 20th-century art. Born in Queens, New York, and raised in a strict Catholic household, he studied graphic arts at the Pratt Institute before immersing himself in the vibrant 1960s Manhattan art scene. During this time, he began a lifelong creative partnership and friendship with musician Patti Smith, an association that would prove foundational to both of their careers.
Mapplethorpe’s early work utilized Polaroid photography, but his practice evolved significantly after meeting curator and mentor Sam Wagstaff in 1972. By the mid-1970s, he had adopted the Hasselblad medium-format camera, using its precision to explore subjects ranging from statuesque nudes and delicate still-life flowers—most notably orchids and calla lilies—to formal portraits of celebrities like Andy Warhol and Debbie Harry. However, he is perhaps most famous for his unflinching documentation of New York’s gay BDSM subculture. His work in this area sought to imbue the erotic with the grandeur and nobility of classical sculpture, often utilizing highly formal, statuesque compositions that referenced religious and Renaissance imagery.
Posthumously, Mapplethorpe became a catalyst for the American "culture wars." His 1989 traveling exhibition, The Perfect Moment, sparked a fierce national debate over public funding for the arts and the constitutional limits of free speech. The controversy led to the Corcoran Gallery of Art canceling the show and resulted in an obscenity trial for the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, though the museum was eventually acquitted.
Mapplethorpe died at age 42 from complications related to HIV/AIDS. Before his passing, he established the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to protect his legacy and fund medical research for HIV/AIDS treatment. Today, his work is held in major institutional collections, including the Guggenheim and the Getty Museum, where it continues to be celebrated for its technical perfection and its bold exploration of the human form and sexual identity.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe kick. This is Mapplethorpe's collection of African American men.

[Ife · Rating 3 out of 5]

A technically brilliant celebration of racial fetishism, Mapplethorpe's work proves incredibly hard to critique. In this collection he masterfully directs the viewers' gaze to the things he finds notable about the Black male form: buttocks, penis, musculature, luminescent Black skin. In his own words he sought to convey Black men as the "Platonic ideal". What Mapplethorpe of course misses is that in the American imagination the Black male form has always been idealised, commodified and fragmented - all the things he does in his collection. However, I can't help but feel that people would critique this book much differently if they didn't know the identity of the person behind the camera.

Kobena Mercer has a really good analysis of the multiple ways the Black body is 'thingified' in Black Book as well as the way that the images could also be read as a genuine celebration of Blackness that might be received differently if it was perhaps a gay Black man behind the camera and Stuart Hall really drives home using the collection how complex the question of representation is. Just as there are images like "Man in a Polyester Suit" that crudely fixate on the mythical big black penis, there are also portraits of Black men in joy although few.

What is indisputable is Mapplethorpe's expertise, his eye for contrast, lighting and composition. However as Mercer points out:

The fantasmatic emphasis on mastery also underpins the specifically sexual fetishization of the Other that is evident in the visual isolation effect whereby it is only ever one Black man who appears in the field of vision at any one time

And broadly speaking being an artistic master does not give you license to exploit marginalised people. Thinking about Mapplethorpe selling prints of these pieces is quite sickening and demonstrates the broader ethical problems in photography that Susan Sontag pointed out.

[Andrew H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Controversial like much of Mapplethorpe. A key text for all the wrong reasons: its graphic racist imagery. Mapplethorpe created much of present day photographic iconography and in that sense a vital book.

[Teddy Farias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! 96 photos!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is solidly Mapplethorpe and with many moments of brilliance. We the people having grown up (in theory) since the controversy, the impact is somewhat compromised. Groups of images make sense, but the collection lacks cohesion, "black" and "male" notwithstanding. The foreword is weirdly fetishistic.

I love 'Michael Hall, 1984' and 'Man in Polyester Suit, 1980'.

This miniature edition seems a bewildering and almost pointless choice by the publisher. Mapplethorpe is at his most expressive when the prints are large.

Something is glued between the front cover and title page of this copy. It's the size of a polaroid and says something like "Love, Sloane" but I can't get at it without destroying both the book and the object.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Book was the first modern photographic collection to portray and celebrate the beauty of African American men. When published in 1986, it merely inflamed Mapplethorpe's already bad reputation with Ronald Reagan and the radically conservative Republican Party, who had been censoring him by withdrawing public NEA grants. The work has clear homoerotic content (yet is not in any way pornographic) but many feel that the deep-seated and unstated true political objections were racially based. Fortunately, as is always the case, censorship and controversy greatly enhanced Mapplethorpe's reputation, ensured continuing, well-deserved sales of the book, and cemented his place in cultural history.

If you can find the original large-scale edition you will appreciate the images much more. The broad expanses of dark ink on the pages, particularly in the backgrounds, contrasted with the detailed skin textures of the models, are photographic masterpieces. The miniature edition is just not large enough.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully executed male nude studies. One of Mapplethorpe's best.