Random House
reviews by Ron Hogan
Random House
reviews by Ron Hogan
Robert Mapplethorpe was one of the most controversial artists of the 1980s. Since his death in 1989, his photographs have been denounced on the Senate floor, and have been the basis for obscenity trials involving museums that displayed his art. Patricia Morrisroe's new biography attempts to understand the relationship between the frequently disturbing imagery of Mapplethorpe's work and his personal life, with mixed results.
Basing her story on numerous interviews with the artist during the last months of his life, as well as with many of his friends and colleagues, Morrisroe assembles the life story of a young man who broke free of his Catholic upbringing in Queens to become a fixture in the New York scene of the '70s and '80s; known as much for his fascination with the world of gay sadomasochism as for his celebrity portraiture and starkly beautiful photos of flower arrangements. The book is particularly strong in depicting Mapplethorpe's close relationship with Patti Smith during the years when they lived together in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel, serving as artistic muse and collaborator for one another. The section dealing with the artist's gradual deterioration due to AIDS is also compelling, particularly as it is counterpointed by Mapplethorpe's attempts to boost the value of his work.
But readers looking for a close analysis of the aesthetic development of Mapplethorpe's art will not find it in this biography. The technical comments are few and far between, and generally superficial (we learn, for example, that Mapplethorpe began to photograph flower arrangements so that he could practice studio lighting techniques before using them on human subjects). Instead, Morrisroe focuses on personal and biographical details, regaling us with stories of social climbing, drug use, and sexual encounters with rough trade. The sordid details of his fascination and turbulent affairs with several of his black models make for particularly meaty reading.
But this examination of his personal life does serve to highlight the contradictory nature of Mapplethorpe's identity. He was a man whose artistic notoriety rested on his photographs of male nudes and sadomasochism, yet who tried to keep his parents from discovering that he was homosexual. He sought the patronage of New York's most influential art dealers and collectors, then ran off to leather bars for casual sexual encounters with men he otherwise considered beneath him. He took on his younger brother Ed as a personal assistant, but forced him to change his last name to prevent Ed from exploiting the Mapplethorpe name.
Morrisroe's biography also provides valuable first-hand testimonials from a community whose numbers are rapidly diminishing. Throughout her text, introductions of eyewitnesses are dotted with phrases like "died of AIDS" or "died of an AIDS-related illness." As she puts it, somewhat hyperbolically, "his pictures of the gay S&M subculture had become relics of a lost civilization." Despite its shortcomings in discussing his work, the book is an important resource in understanding the environment that produced artists like Mapplethorpe, whose work is still challenging and provocative, five years after his death.
