Self Portrait
About this artwork
In this work Mapplethorpe has disguised himself as a goat-like figure or a horned satyr. Like much of Mapplethorpe’s photographs the image could be interpreted in two ways. On one hand he suggests the horns of a satyr, associated with Greek Arcadia, and on the other he resembles the demonic horned figure of Satan. By depicting himself as both a faun and a demon Mapplethorpe emphasises two opposing good and evil sides of himself. Both masculine and feminine traits could also be applied to the image; the horns’ penetrative power suggesting a masculine force, but their opening into the shape of a lyre or receptacle implying a more passive, or feminine form. Again, this suggests the complexity of Mapplethorpe’s self image.
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:1985
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materials:Gelatin silver print on paper
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measurements:38.40 x 38.60 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:AL00364
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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...
