Michael Ward Stout, Mapplethorpe Foundation President, Dies
Tom Seymour, The Art Journal
October 2026
Michael Ward Stout, longtime president of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and a lawyer specialising in artists’ rights, has died, the Foundation announced. […] Stout first knew Mapplethorpe socially in New York in the 1970s. Around 1980 or 1981, he became Mapplethorpe’s lawyer as the artist pursued commissions and licensing opportunities for designs and artworks. In an essay for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Stout recalled Mapplethorpe’s interest in licensing work for products including watches, jewelery, porcelain and furniture. The two became friends as well as lawyer and client. […].