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Flowers
The theme of flowers is woven throughout Robert Mapplethorpe's oeuvre, coming to signify some of his deepest concerns as an artist. The photographs in Flowers range from images of the early 1980's to many taken in the months just before his death.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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About the author
Robert Mapplethorpe
70 books64 followersRobert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and naked men. The frank, homosexually erotic nature of some of the work of his middle period triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of artworks.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 6, 2017
If only our world could look as perfect as these flowers appear, then I would be a very happy person.
August 30, 2016
A very nice, lyric introduction by Patti Smith. This collection surprised me because all the photographs are in color, and I generally associate Mapplethorpe with black and white photography. Great compositions. Aside from the introduction, there is no text, so it is pretty easy to flip through during a lunch break.
August 11, 2012
Foreword by Patti Smith: A Final Flower.
July 26, 2015
A very elegant book. Every coffee table should have it proudly exhibited.
November 17, 2007
beauty
May 22, 2011
a stunning happy little mood lift
January 30, 2022
Three and a half stars.
I do not have much expertise to rate the artistic quality of photographs. When reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids, I checked out the two books of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs in my local library.
Patti Smith wrote the introduction to Flowers, and she implies that these photographs, taken late in Mapplethorpe’s career, echo the earliest attractions of his artistic eye, to “The lure of a jeweled rosary, the rich cloth dressing an altar, a gold-toned saxophone or a field of blue stars.”
Smith later mentions “Passionate zen,” and ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, may have influenced Mapplethorpe. Although he almost always restricts a photograph to a single flower or type of flower,* he usually places the flower in a vessel and often arranges the flowers asymmetrically, for example, placing the vessel on the right side of the composition and having the flowers hang to the left.
The photographs often include the table on which the vessel is placed, taking up an eighth or so of the whole. Behind the flowers is often a wall painted a single color, but with shadows formed by the light source(s).
Smith suggests a photograph shows “the foreskin of a lily,” and some of the flowers may give the impression of human genitalia (flowers, after all, are sex organs). If you prefer, however, you can enjoy the subjects simply as flowers.
My favorite photograph is the second in the book, following Smith’s introduction. A single rose is centered, a bud-like interior with open outer petals, pink but lit to near white at the edges, against a black background. The stem is set at a 45-degree angle from the center to the bottom right, where the tops of several leaves are visible.
* One photograph places a palmetto leaf behind an orchid, with two light sources casting palmetto shadows to the left and to the right of the arrangement.
I do not have much expertise to rate the artistic quality of photographs. When reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids, I checked out the two books of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs in my local library.
Patti Smith wrote the introduction to Flowers, and she implies that these photographs, taken late in Mapplethorpe’s career, echo the earliest attractions of his artistic eye, to “The lure of a jeweled rosary, the rich cloth dressing an altar, a gold-toned saxophone or a field of blue stars.”
Smith later mentions “Passionate zen,” and ikebana, Japanese flower arranging, may have influenced Mapplethorpe. Although he almost always restricts a photograph to a single flower or type of flower,* he usually places the flower in a vessel and often arranges the flowers asymmetrically, for example, placing the vessel on the right side of the composition and having the flowers hang to the left.
The photographs often include the table on which the vessel is placed, taking up an eighth or so of the whole. Behind the flowers is often a wall painted a single color, but with shadows formed by the light source(s).
Smith suggests a photograph shows “the foreskin of a lily,” and some of the flowers may give the impression of human genitalia (flowers, after all, are sex organs). If you prefer, however, you can enjoy the subjects simply as flowers.
My favorite photograph is the second in the book, following Smith’s introduction. A single rose is centered, a bud-like interior with open outer petals, pink but lit to near white at the edges, against a black background. The stem is set at a 45-degree angle from the center to the bottom right, where the tops of several leaves are visible.
* One photograph places a palmetto leaf behind an orchid, with two light sources casting palmetto shadows to the left and to the right of the arrangement.
November 30, 2017
Just excellent! Beautiful photos and I don't normally flip over still life pics.
March 3, 2020
OK, so it's more a "seen" than a "read," necessitated by having finished Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids. Such talent (her too!)
September 30, 2024
Just LOVE his work!! Beautiful!
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews