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Exhibition |
| BERLIN, 14 OCTOBER 2004 — Remembered by many
for his erotic images, including male and female nudes with sometimes
sadomasochistic themes which eventually were the subject of an obscenity trial, Robert
Mapplethorpe is now the subject of Robert Mapplethorpe and the
Classical Tradition: Photographs and Mannerist Prints, an exhibition
at the Deutsche Guggenheim which traces affinities between his
photographs, prints by 16th century Mannerist artists, and sculptures from
classical antiquity. Female bodybuider Lisa Lyons, dancer Derrick Cross,
and a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, provided Mapplethorpe the
well-muscled bodies that are the subjects of some of the photographs in
this exhibition. The curators — Germano Celant, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Guggenheim Museum New York, and Arkady Ippolitov, Curator of Italian Prints, State Hermitage St. Petersburg — offered the following statement situating Mapplethorpe vis-à-vis some of his antecedents. — Antoine du
Rocher
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Curatorial Statement With over one-hundred and twenty objects, this exhibition at
the Deutsche Guggenheim explores the dialogue between the photography of
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989) and Classical art, in particular
late-16th-century Netherlandish (Dutch and Flemish) Mannerist prints
through the engravings and woodcuts of Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Harmensz.
Muller, Jacob Matham, and Jan Saenredam. A selection of sculptures in the
exhibition highlights the dialogue of Mapplethorpe’s photographs and the
Mannerist prints with classical Antiquity, further illustrating their
compelling relationship and a broader understanding of the history of art.
The electric and emotive potency of love and Eros, which informs many of the Mannerist works in the exhibition, is expressed as well in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose sometimes shocking photographs reveal compelling strength and a nervous energy. Passionate about the human body in his creative and sensual quest, Mapplethorpe described photography as "the perfect way to make a sculpture." He looked for perfection in form with every subject he tackled, and his photographs, ripe with sculptural tension, are imbued with an erotic ambiguity. Furthermore, the classical ideal was not only a poetic inspiration for him but also an ethical model that he sought to emulate throughout his short life. Mapplethorpe was trained in painting and sculpture and his early interest focused on the nature of the painterly and sculptural processes. In the late 1960s and early 70s, Mapplethorpe juxtaposed images of neoclassical monuments with those of his own nude body, where the positions of the live figure mimed exactly the positions of the statue.
He combined harmonious sculptural excellence with
photographic absoluteness, and by uniting historical sculpture with the
model Mapplethorpe strove to mirror art in life and art in photography. In
this way, he was able to express radical themes in typical historical
terms. Partaking of classical naturalism, his compositions are
meticulously thought out and reflect a highly detailed perusal of figural
gestures, from the Antiquity and perfection of Michelangelo to the
elegance of 18th- and 19th-century artists, such as Auguste Rodin, with
whom he shared an attraction to Eros and sensuality of chiseled bodies.
The vital anatomical forms of his portraits, such as the female
bodybuilder Lisa Lyons and the statuesque dancer Derrick Cross, find their
roots in Antiquity, and here find their mirror in the highly expressive
and sculptural 16th-century prints of Jan Harmensz. Muller’s The Rape of
the Sabine Women and Jacob Matham’s muscled and dynamic Apollo in the
Clouds darting through the picture plane. Mapplethorpe’s effective minimal
black and white palette, through which he explored paradoxes and
relationships, expresses a certain poetic and melancholy quality, while
the Mannerists’s magisterial tours de force are rendered through startling
light, texture, and three-dimensionality.
Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition has been jointly organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, and the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue in German and English, with essays by the curators as well as a contribution by Jennifer Blessing at a price of € 34. The show is on view at the Deutsche Guggenheim until 17 October 2004.
In cooperation with the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, keynote tours
devoted to the theme of Mannerism are being offered in the
Kupferstichkabinett and in the Gemäldegalerie am Kulturforum with Thomas
Hoffmann. More detailed information concerning titles and dates is
available at the information desk of the Deutsche
Guggenheim, Berlin.
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