“Look
at the pictures,” said Senator Jesse Helms, denouncing the
controversial art of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs pushed
boundaries with frank depictions
of nudity, sexuality and fetishism, igniting a culture war that rages
to this day.
More than 25 years later, the HBO Documentary Films
presentation MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES does just that, taking
an unflinching, unprecedented look at his
most provocative work. From acclaimed filmmakers Fenton Bailey and
Randy Barbato (“Inside Deep Throat”; HBO’s “Wishful Drinking” and “The
Eyes of Tammy Faye”), and produced by Katharina Otto-Bernstein
(“Absolute Wilson”), the first feature-length documentary
about the artist since his death, and the most comprehensive film on
Mapplethorpe ever, debuts on April 4 on HBO.
As
The J. Paul Getty Museum and The Los Angeles County Museum of Art
prepare landmark Mapplethorpe retrospectives (both opening in March),
the film goes inside the
preparation for the exhibitions as a jumping-off point to tell the
complete story of his life and work for the first time, and explore the
interplay between his personal and professional lives. MAPPLETHORPE:
LOOK AT THE PICTURES reveals a controversial artist
who turned contemporary photography into a fine art.
With
complete and unprecedented access to The Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation, the documentary draws upon archival materials and features
never-before-seen photographs
and footage. “Even his most shocking and forbidden images are included
without blurs, without snickers – in other words, exactly as the artist
intended,” say Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Mapplethorpe himself is a
strong presence, telling his story in his
own words with complete honesty and often shocking candor through
rediscovered audio interviews.
MAPPLETHORPE:
LOOK AT THE PICTURES follows his early beginnings as a young artist in
New York City through his meteoric rise in the art world to his untimely
death.
In 1963, he enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he
studied drawing, painting and sculpture, and soon met his first
girlfriend, Patti Smith, one in a string of profoundly influential
lovers. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was taking Polaroid
photographs of friends and acquaintances, and was determined to make
it, which meant being recognized as an artist and becoming famous.
Almost
all of the people from key relationships in his life are present in the
film, including Sam Wagstaff, David Croland, Lisa Lyon, Marcus
Leatherdale and Jack Walls.
The documentary also features almost 50 original interviews with
family, friends, co-workers and colleagues, including Mary Boone,
Carolina Herrera, Brooke Shields, Helen and Brice Marden, Fran Lebowitz,
Bob Colacello and Debbie Harry.
Rounding
out this portrait are the recollections of Mapplethorpe’s older sister,
Nancy, and youngest brother, Edward. An artist himself, Edward assisted
his brother
for many years and was responsible for much of the technical excellence
of his photography.
The
duality of black-and-white work reverberated in his life. He often
mounted two shows simultaneously: An uptown exhibition might include
society portraits and delicate
flower still-lifes, while his sexually explicit photographs were on
view downtown. Mapplethorpe’s most controversial work — which he
considered his most important — chronicled the underground BDSM
(bondage, dominance and submission, sadomasochism) scene of
late 1970s New York City, sparking a national debate over public
funding of art some deemed offensive or obscene.
Mapplethorpe
was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, when the illness was still a death
sentence. He spent the remainder of his life working more feverishly
than ever before,
not only pursuing perfection, but also striving to secure his legacy
after his death. In 1988, a few months before Mapplethorpe’s passing,
The Whitney Museum of American Art mounted his first major American
museum retrospective.