BOOK FORMAT Hardcover, 9.5 x 12.75 in. / 272 pgs / 23 color / 238 bw.
PUBLISHING STATUS Pub Date 8/26/2025 Forthcoming
DISTRIBUTION D.A.P. Exclusive Catalog: FALL 2025
PRODUCT DETAILS ISBN 9791254632772TRADE List Price: $60.00 CAD $85.00 GBP £48.00
AVAILABILITY Awaiting stock
TERRITORY WORLD
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Venice, Italy Stanze della Fotografia, Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 04/10/25–01/06/26 Rome, Italy Museo dell’Ara Pacis, 02/26–06/26 Milan, Italy Palazzo Reale, 09/26–02/27
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 and interpreted, translating into the medium of photography the principles of harmony, proportion and formal perfection that characterize classical sculpture. This volume holds a direct dialogue between the most celebrated of Mapplethorpe’s photographs of the perfect and eternal forms of ancient sculpture, and images whose subjects are the fleeting and sensual ones of male and female models that echo the poses or angles of the former, making a visual comparison between sculptural and photographic representation of the human body. It is from such a perspective that this up-to-date monograph sets out to retrace the various stages of Mapplethorpe’s career and artistic research, examining crucial phases in his production, from his early experiments with collage to his last works, passing through his iconic photographs of nudes, portraits and floral compositions.
STATUS: Forthcoming | 8/26/2025
This title is not yet published in the U.S. To pre-order or receive notice when the book is available, please email orders @ artbook.com
Published by Marsilio Arte. Edited by Denis Curti.
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 and interpreted, translating into the medium of photography the principles of harmony, proportion and formal perfection that characterize classical sculpture.
This volume holds a direct dialogue between the most celebrated of Mapplethorpe’s photographs of the perfect and eternal forms of ancient sculpture, and images whose subjects are the fleeting and sensual ones of male and female models that echo the poses or angles of the former, making a visual comparison between sculptural and photographic representation of the human body.
It is from such a perspective that this up-to-date monograph sets out to retrace the various stages of Mapplethorpe’s career and artistic research, examining crucial phases in his production, from his early experiments with collage to his last works, passing through his iconic photographs of nudes, portraits and floral compositions.
