Polaroids: Mapplethorpe

Library Journal

This collaboration with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It collects approximately 300 black-and-white Polaroids-many never before seen-that Mapplethorpe took between 1970 and 1975 and includes an exploratory essay by Wolf (Ed Ruscha and Photography), an adjunct curator at the Whitney. Mapplethorpe was influenced by the social, sexual, political, and drug revolution of the Sixties and Seventies as well as by his family's Catholicism. His utilization of Polaroids and sexually explicit photography made him stand out in a time of rebellion and self-expression, but he was also known for his still lifes, portraits (e.g., of musician Patti Smith and photo collector Sam Wagstaff), and observations of everyday life. As these images attest, that body of his work exudes a sensitivity and demonstrates a use of composition and light that speaks to the viewer beyond what is obvious. A catalog of graphic elegance, beautifully presented and recommended to specialty and art libraries.
—Karen MacMurray