INVENTORY OF THE ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE PAPERS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, circa 1850-2011, bulk 1970-1989

Finding aid prepared by Annette Doss, Katie Duvall, Zulay Chang, Alexis Adkins, Sheila Prospero, Anne-Marie Walsh, and Emmabeth Nanol.

Descriptive Summary

Title: Robert Mapplethorpe papers and photographs

Date (inclusive): circa 1850-2011, bulk 1970-1989

Number: 2011.M.20

Creator/Collector: Mapplethorpe, Robert

Physical Description: 311.0 linear feet (301 boxes, 12 flatfile folders, 3 rolls)

Repository:

The Getty Research Institute

Special Collections

1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100

Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688

(310) 440-7390

Abstract: The papers and photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) span the artist's career, from his early drawings, collages and jewelry to his renowned photographic work in the 1970s and 1980s. The photographic material in the archive includes Polaroids, photographs, commercial commissions, test shots, and non-editioned prints from the same photography sessions as his editioned prints. Also included in the archive are films, personal and professional correspondence, studio documents, interviews, clippings, exhibition files, financial records, and collected items.

Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy .

Language: Collection material is in English

Biographical/Historical Note

A key figure in late 20th-century photography, Robert Mapplethorpe created work with a distinctive tension between opposites: sacred and profane, mainstream and underground, light and dark. From his early Polaroid portraits, to his fashion photography and later controversial work, Mapplethorpe's photographs are well-ordered and emotionally restrained, with chaotic and sensuous elements beneath the surface.

Born in Queens, New York in 1946, Mapplethorpe studied graphic arts at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn before dropping out in 1969. He met the musician, poet, and artist Patti Smith in 1967 and they lived together as intimate and artistic partners until 1974. In 1972, Mapplethorpe met two influential curators. John McKendry gave him his first Polaroid camera, with which he made self-portraits and portraits of his friends and acquaintances in the art world. Samuel Wagstaff, Jr. later became the artist's lover and mentor. By the mid-1970s, Mapplethorpe had acquired a medium format camera and began photographing the world of New York's S&M clubs.

Mapplethorpe refined his style in the early 1980s to create elegant figure studies, delicate floral still lifes, nudes, and celebrity portraits. His preference for simple compositions and a sophisticated use of lighting to articulate subtleties of form distinguished his mature work.

His career was successfully championed by pioneering photography dealer Harry Lunn, who, along with Robert Miller and Robert Self, published portfolios of some of the artist's most challenging work. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio was at the center of an American culture war over whether public monies should be used to underwrite art that some deemed obscene or blasphemous.

In 1989, at age 42, Mapplethorpe died from complications of AIDS. A year earlier, he established the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which protects his work, promotes his legacy, and supports the causes he believed in, such as art programs and HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

Other Finding Aids

A detailed inventory of the set "Portraits and Self-Portraits" (RMF number U331) in Boxes 19 and 20 can be found online and in Box 19.

Administrative Information

Access

Open for use by qualified researchers with the following exceptions. Polaroid test shots in Series II.D. are currently being digitized and are unavailable until digitization is complete. Audiovisual material is unavailable until it is reformatted. Several fragile items are restricted pending conservation treatment, as indicated in the container list. Sensitive material is sealed for the period of time indicated in the container list. Letters from Patti Smith to Mapplethorpe are sealed for Smith's lifetime. This collection contains content that may be offensive to some viewers and inappropriate for children.

Publication Rights

Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions .

Preferred Citation

Robert Mapplethorpe papers and photographs, circa 1850-2011 (bulk 1970-1989), The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2011.M.20.

Acquisition Information

Acquired in 2011.

Series I.A and I.B: Gift of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to The J. Paul Getty Trust and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Series I.C through Series IX: Gift of The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

Processing History

Sheila Prospero, Anne-Marie Walsh, Alexis Adkins, and Lilly Tsukahira processed, re-housed and cataloged Series I.A. and Series I.B. from July-September 2011 under the supervision of Beth Guynn. Revisions were completed by Annette Doss in 2012.

Zulay Chang processed, re-housed and cataloged Series I.C. and Series II from September 2011 to May 2012 under the supervision of Beth Guynn. Series I.C. was revised by Katie Duvall and Annette Doss.

With grant funding from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Katie Duvall processed, re-housed and cataloged Series I.D. through Series I.F., and Series III through Series IX from November 2011 to November 2012 under the supervision of Annette Doss.

Items in the following boxes require conservation treatment: box 26, 29-31, 49*, 52*, 54, 56, 59*, ff.3**.

Digital Collection

Series I.A and Series I.B. have been digitized. Connect to digital collection. Digital images are provided for study purposes only. Access to images of works by artists other than Mapplethorpe is available only to on-site readers and Getty staff.

Related Archival Materials

Over 2000 editioned prints and other works of art by Robert Mapplethorpe are held at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Additional Mapplethorpe materials are found in the Harry Lunn papers, 1971-1989, accession no. 2004.M.17. Connect to finding aid.

Samuel Wagstaff papers, 1796-1987 (bulk 1952-1986), accession no. 2005.M.46. Connect to finding aid.

Scope and Content of Collection

The papers and photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe document the career of the prolific artist from 1970 until his death in 1989 and his legacy in the following decades. Encompassing the full range of Mapplethorpe's production, including newly-discovered early drawings, assemblages, jewelry, little-known Polaroids, test shots, non-editioned prints, commercial commissions, and films, the collection demonstrates Mapplethorpe's range of technique and his commitment to a personal vision throughout his life. The archive also provides documentation of Mapplethorpe's working processes and personal and professional relationships through correspondence, studio records, interviews, clippings, ephemera, exhibition files, and financial records.

The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation maintained and added to the archive from 1989 to 2011. These later additions include archival documents, ephemera and clippings collected by the Foundation, as well as records generated by the Foundation in the course of its work promoting Mapplethorpe's legacy with exhibitions and publications. Not included in the archive are approximately 1,900 of Mapplethorpe's limited-edition prints and other works of art housed at the J. Paul Getty Museum and jointly owned with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Series I contains Mapplethorpe's creative output and the artworks he acquired from others. Works by Mapplethorpe include photographs, Polaroids, three-dimensional objects, paintings, and cut-outs. Most photographs are gelatin silver prints and are predominantly self-portraits or portraits of Mapplethorpe's contemporaries. Works by other artists are mostly photographs of Mapplethorpe, and some photographs also feature Patti Smith, Sam Wagstaff, David Croland, Milton Moore, Jack Walls, Lisa Lyon, Francesco and Alba Clemente, Nick Rhodes, and Keith Haring. Other photographs document Mapplethorpe's artworks and jewelry designs. Also included are approximately 1000 non-editioned prints from the same photo sessions as Mapplethorpe's editioned prints; commissioned and commercial work; jewelry; films; and three portfolios featuring some of his earlier prints. Series II documents how Mapplethorpe worked as a photographer. Included are over 3,000 Polaroids that he took as test shots for his editioned prints, an index card inventory of 2,080 prints, model release forms, shooting books that were used to record editioned print information, and three spiral notebooks containing 418 Polaroid test shots.

Series III comprises photographs documenting Mapplethorpe's work. Included are gallery installation shots, Polaroids, and slides. Series IV includes Mapplethorpe's personal and professional correspondence with friends, models, clients, museums, galleries, and fans. Correspondents include Sam Wagstaff, Lisa Lyon, John McKendry, and Patti Smith. (Note: All letters from Patti Smith to Robert Mapplethorpe are sealed for Smith's lifetime.) Series V contains files related to exhibitions that took place during Mapplethorpe's lifetime. Documents include exhibition reports, press materials, ephemera, posters, and related videos. In Series VI are several documentaries and interviews with Mapplethorpe and others. Series VII contains fincancial and administrative records documenting Mapplethorpe's studio operations. Series VIII consists of items from Mapplethorpe's personal photograph collection of daguerreotypes, vintage pornography, ephemera, his zodiac chart, and other miscellaneous items.

Series IX comprises materials that the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation created and collected after the artist's death in 1989. Files include correspondence with museums, galleries, and publishers; exhibition files and administrative records; and 27 boxes of collected press clippings related to the censorship controversy and trial in Cincinnati in the early 1990s. Also included are videos of news footage and press coverage of the controversy.

Arrangement

Arranged in nine series: Series I. Creative work, circa 1850-2009, undated; Series II. Photographic practice, 1978-2000, undated; Series III. Photographic documentation, circa 1969-circa 1989, undated; Series IV. Correspondence, 1969-1991, undated; Series V. Exhibition files, 1977-1992, undated; Series VI. Interviews and documentaries, circa 1980-1989, undated; Series VII. Financial records,1964-1995, undated; Series VIII. Collections and personal items, circa 1880-1989, undated; Series IX. Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, 1989-2011, undated.

Indexing Terms

Subjects - Names

Lyon, Lisa

Mapplethorpe, Robert

Smith, Patti

Wagstaff, Samuel J.

Subjects - Topics

African American men--Photographs

Artists--United States--20th century

Artists--United States--Correspondence

Bodybuilders--Photographs

Celebrities--Portraits

Censorship--United States--History--20th century

Fetishism in art

Flowers--Photographs

Gay men--Photographs

Photographers--United States--20th century

Photography of the nude

Photography, Artistic

Photography, Erotic

Portrait photography--United States--20th century

Sadomasochism in art

Sadomasochism--Photographs

Women bodybuilders--Photographs

Genres and Forms of Material

Assemblages (sculpture)--United States--20th century

Collages (visual works)--20th century

Diffusion transfer prints--United States--20th century

Drawings--United States--20th century

DVDs--United States--20th century

Dye difussion transfer prints--United States--20th century

Experimental films--United States--20th century

Gelatin silver prints--United States--20th century

Nudes (representations)

Photographs, Original

Portraits--United States--20th century

Posters--United States--20th century

Self-portraits

Still lifes

Videotapes--United States--20th century

Contributors

Amft, Robert, 1916-

Koelbl, Herlinde

Linn, Judy

Seeff, Norman

Smith, Patti

Wagstaff, Samuel J.

Container List

Series I. Creative work, Bulk, 1960-1988 circa 1850-2009 (bulk 1960-1988)

Physical Description: 219.6 linear feet (147 boxes, 5 flatfile folders, 2 rolls)

Scope and Content Note

This series comprises Mapplethorpe's early work from the late 1960s when he was a student at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, through his more well-known photographs produced in the 1980s. The works represented include Polaroids, drawings, paintings, collages, altered found images, cut-outs, assemblages, films, jewelry, commissioned and commercial work, large format prints, as well as artworks he acquired from others. All works are created by Mapplethorpe unless otherwise indicated.

Arrangement

Arranged in nine subseries: Series I.A. Artworks by Robert Mapplethorpe; Series I.B. Artworks by others; Series I.C. Non-editioned prints; Series I.D. Portfolios; Series I.E. Commissioned and commercial work; Series I.F. Jewelry; Series I.G. Films; Series I.H. Contact sheets; Series I.I. Negatives.

Series I.A. Artworks by Robert Mapplethorpe, circa 1964-1988

Physical Description: 86.5 linear feet (62 boxes, 3 flatfile folders, 1 roll)

Scope and Content Note

This subseries represents a variety of artworks created by Robert Mapplethorpe from his student days through his later career. Earlier works include drawings, paintings, collages, altered photographs, altered found images, cut-outs and assemblages. Photographic works are mostly Polaroids, both color (dye diffusion transfer prints) and black-and-white (diffusion transfer prints), and gelatin silver prints. Most of the photographs are self-portraits or portraits of his close associates including Patti Smith, Sam Wagstaff, David Croland, Marianne Faithfull, Judy Linn, and Ruth Kligman. Many items are in their original frames, with the frame functioning as part of the piece as conceived of and executed by Mapplethorpe; others are in later exhibition frames. Other materials include a numbered, limited edition book, Season in Hell, by Arthur Rimbaud, illustrated with eight photogravure prints by Mapplethorpe and a separate, numbered portfolio of the same prints, invitations to Mapplethorpe's show Don't Touch Here at the Light Gallery in 1973, and offset prints of Smith's poem "Dolor Desvelado," which include photographs by Mapplethorpe.

All titles were devised by the catalogers unless they are italicized or otherwise indicated. Each item in this subseries has a unique RMF number that was assigned by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. These RMF numbers have been frequently used to refer to such items and have been retained in the archive for accessibility. RMF numbers that begin with the letters "PD" have been published by Sylvia Wolf in Polaroids: Mapplethorpe, or in other catalogs. Also referenced are the The Museum System (TMS) numbers which are used to manage the Getty's art and archive collections. LACMA numbers are also included for each item that is jointly held by the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

A detailed inventory of the contents of the set titled "Portraits and Self-Portraits" can be found online and in Box 19.

Arrangement

Materials are arranged sequentially by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation (RMF) number. Numbers missing from the RMF number sequence in Series I.A. are in Series I.B.

Box 1

Untitled/Pepperidge Farm Cookies, circa 1971

Untitled/Pepperidge Farm Cookies, circa 1971 (digital version)