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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 books67 followersRobert 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.
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.
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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