About this artwork
The mask and snake help to give this figure the appearance of being a satyr or (its Christian equivalent) a devil - characters and symbols of debauchery that fascinated Mapplethorpe. The twists and turns of the body and snake combined are reminiscent of Mannerist as well as Hellenistic art, subjects that interested Mapplethorpe. However, there are other precedents nearer in time. Baron von Gloeden took a photograph in around 1900 of a young man dressed up as a satyr - Mapplethorpe owned a print of this. Man Ray also photographed a female snake charmer as well as a naked woman holding up a black, African mask.
Updated before 2020
see media-
artist:Robert Mapplethorpe (1946 - 1989) American
-
title:Snakeman
-
date created:1981
-
materials:Gelatin silver print on paper
-
measurements:44.10 x 34.20 cm (framed: 71.20 x 58.50 x 3.9 cm)
-
object type:
-
credit line:ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Acquired jointly through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund, 2008
-
accession number:AR00193
-
gallery:
-
subject:
-
artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
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...