“Behold the Lowly Vessel” by Robert Mapplethorpe at Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin on view from 29 June until 24 August

Robert Mapplethorpe, born in New York in 1946 and died in Boston in 1989, was an acclaimed photographer, most noted for his black and white portraits of celebrities, flowers, as well as female and male nudes. While initially creating collages using found photographs, objects, and paintings, Mapplethorpe turned to photography in the early 1970s. Using a Polaroid SX-70 camera, he quickly became known for the portraits he took of his wide circle of friends, including famous artists, musicians, porn stars, and socialites. Mapplethorpe’s diverse oeuvre—homoerotic images, floral still-life photographs, pictures of children, commissioned portraits, and mixed-media sculpture—is united by the consistency of his approach and technique. Mapplethorpe’s photographs offer a seemingly endless gradation of blacks and whites, shadow and light. Regardless of their specific subject, his images combine both provocation and elegance.

Robert Mapplethorpe

Spartacus, 1988

Silver gelatin print

© The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission

Robert Mapplethorpe

Bill T. Jones, 1985

Silver gelatin print

© The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission

Robert Mapplethorpe

Satyr, 1988

Silver gelatin print

© The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission

Robert Mapplethorpe

Keith Clark, 1984

Silver gelatin print

© The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission

Robert Mapplethorpe

Self Portrait, 1981

Silver gelatin print

© The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission