? Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.
Frogs
1984
- Artist Rooms
Mapplethorpe rarely photographed nature in the `wild?. Here, like his flower photographs, he has removed the subject from its natural environment. Although considering frogs? unpredictability, especially in comparison to flowers, Mapplethorpe has managed to capture eight within a perfectly balanced composition. With all points of reference removed, the plate has become a white circle, suspended on a black background. The frogs appear to have gathered contently across the surface of the plate, oblivious to the religious connotations of sacrifice and the humourous allusion to the well-known French delicacy of frogs? legs.
