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.
After Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
Phaeton, from The Four Disgracers, 16th century, first
state dated 1588 Engraving Diameter: 12 15/16 inches (32.9 cm)
State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg
Photo: Yuri Molotkovetz © 2004 State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg
Robert Mapplethorpe, Thomas, 1987 Gelatin-silver print A.P.
1/2 18 7/8 x 18 7/8 inches (48.1 x 48.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York, Gift, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
© Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Photos
courtesy of Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
Deeply rooted in Italian art, Mannerism
was an international movement and style which arose after the death of Raphael
in 1520 for about one century. Just as it was common for Italian artists to
travel throughout Europe, Italy attracted many foreign artists who then created
back home their own personal readings of Italian styles past and present.
Mannerist printmaking spread to France and the Netherlands, as well as Germany
and Prague. But Flemish Mannerist prints were more Italianate by inspiration
than directly based on Italian designs, and they mingled naturalism with
influences from Hellenistic sculpture.
Jacob Matham after Hendrick Goltzius The
Graces, 16th century Engraving 11 5/16 x 8
1/8 inches (28.8 x 20.7 cm)
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Photo: Yuri Molotkovetz © 2004
State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Robert Mapplethorpe: Ken,
Lydia, and Tyler, 1985 Gelatin-silver print 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x
50.8 cm)
Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used
with permission. All rights reserved.
Photos
courtesy of Deutsche Guggenheim
Referred to as the "stylish style",
Mannerism is characterized by compositional, emotional, and narrative elements
that shift from the balance of harmony and equilibrium articulated by the art
of the High Renaissance. In order to emphasize torsos and limbs, Mannerist
artists often violated classical canons of perfect proportions. Figures were
not only nude, but elongated and elaborate in a near vertiginous fashion,
indicating the artists’ mastery of anatomy. In some cases the figures were
nearly grotesque in their depiction of exaggerated musculature indebted to
Michelangelo and his followers, as exemplified particularly with the work of
Goltzius. Likewise, the physical distortions underscored the violence, drama,
and cruelty of the narrative, though grace, elegance, and wit were important
features of the Mannerist aesthetic as reflected in their choice of
mythological and allegorical subjects such as the three fates, the five senses,
and the seven cardinal virtues.
Jan Harmensz. Muller after Adriaen de Vries Apollo armed with
His Bow for the Battle with Python, 16th century
Engraving 15 1/2 x 11
13/16 inches (39.4 x 30 cm) Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preussischer Kulturbesitz
Photo: Jörg Anders copyright © 2004,
Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen Berlin
Robert Mapplethorpe,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1976 Gelatin-silver print Edition 5/10
13 7/8
x 13 15/16 inches (35.3 x 35.4 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York,
Gift, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
copyright © Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Photos courtesy of
Deutsche Guggenheim
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.
Hendrick Goltzius, Persephone (Flora),
ca.1594 Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from three blocks:
black, hazel and
brown 13 11/16 x 10 5/16 inches (34.5 x 26 cm) State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg
Photo: Yuri Molotkovetz © 2004 State Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg
Robert Mapplethorpe, Ada, 1982 Gelatin-silver print A.P. 1/2
19 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches (48.9 x 38.7 cm)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New
York, Gift, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
copyright © Robert
Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Photos courtesy
of Deutsche Guggenheim
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.
After Michelangelo Samson conquers
two Philistines, 16th century
Bronze Height: 14 3/8 inches (36.5 cm)
Skulpturensammlung, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Photo Credit: Jörg Anders © 2004, Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche
Museen Berlin
Robert Mapplethorpe, Derrick Cross, 1983
Gelatin-silver print A.P. 1/2 19 3/16 x 15 3/8 inches (48.7 x 39.1 cm)
Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gift, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation 96.4369
© Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used with permission. All rights
reserved.
Photos
courtesy of Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin
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.
Jacob Matham after Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
Diana in the Clouds, 16th century
Engraving 12 3/4 x 8 11/16 inches
(32.4 x 22 cm) State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Photo: Yuri
Molotkovetz © 2004 State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Robert
Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyons, 1981 Gelatin-silver print Edition
8/10 19 1/16 x 15 3/16 inches (48.4 x 38.6 cm)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Gift,
Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
copyright © Robert Mapplethorpe
Foundation. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Photos courtesy
of Deutsche Guggenheim
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.
Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical
Tradition will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New
York from 1 July to 24 August 2005.
Art and Archaeology Exhibitions
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