Robert Mapplethorpe

Tracing echoes of antiquity in Mapplethorpe's erotic, dramatic and exquisitely balanced black-and-white compositions

American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-89) was an artist with a profound knowledge of art history, a sophisticated connoisseur who constantly sought to hold a dialogue with the past that would allow him to create innovative and contemporary images. His vision was influenced by Classicism, an artistic canon that Mapplethorpe not only studied but also copied, renewed an...