Self Portrait
About this artwork
In Mapplethorpe’s many self portraits he often appears staged and composed. His self portraits were often created at seminal points throughout his career and can be seen as documents of the many facets to his personality. In this image Mapplethorpe emanates a challenging stare, whilst he poses in an overtly masculine leather jacket, shirt and tie. A dichotomy is created between the suit and the leather jacket, the first suggesting formality and rigor, the second implying a more rebellious and dangerous streak.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Robert Mapplethorpe (1946 - 1989) American
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title:Self Portrait
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date created:1982; printed 1991
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materials:Gelatin silver print on paper
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measurements:38.80 x 38.40 cm (framed: 68.40 x 66.20 x 3.10 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Lent by Artist Rooms Foundation 2014
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accession number:AL00362
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gallery:
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
The American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe became famous, not to say, notorious, in the 1970s and 1980s for his photographs of the male nude and sexually explicit, gay imagery. Although often considered controversial, Mapplethorpe tested the right to individual freedom of expression. These...