Review: Robert Mapplethorpe, LACMA and Getty Museum
Jason Farago, The Guardian
March 2016
Is there more to say about Robert Mapplethorpe, the photographer whose cool images of lilies and leather elicited the hottest of controversies in the Reagan and Bush years? So much more, it turns out. Mapplethorpe is someone we think we know, thanks to the disgusting efforts of Jesse Helms and other conservative culture warriors to censor and shame a gay artist and his supporters. In fact, there are still depths to plumb in his portraits of 80s superstars and little-known figures; still lifes, usually of flowers; and nudes. That last category is the most capacious, for it includes not just images of classicized bodies – often black men, though frequently women as well – but uncensored, flagrant depictions of some rather special sex acts. […]