Events
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Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) became known for his focus on several subjects, from portraits to still lifes, from classical sculptures to contemporary nudes, some of which made him at least temporarily notorious. His most lasting legacy, however, is his portraiture, which reflects and embodies the New York cultural milieu of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Within his roster of clients can be found many of the most significant artists, art dealers, writers, musicians, designers, and actors of the period. This exhibition of approximately one hundred portraits, principally drawn from the holdings of the Mapplethorpe Foundation, includes images of William Burroughs, Truman Capote, Marianne Faithfull, David Hockney, Grace Jones, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Lisette Model, Alice Neel, Iggy Pop, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol.
This exhibition is organized by the Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California, with the assistance of Guest Curator Gordon Baldwin. The exhibition is sponsored in part by the Helene & Lou Galen Exhibition Fund and the Faye & Herman Sarkowsky Exhibition Fund.Gallery Walk
September 9, 2009
Join Gordon Baldwin, exhibition curator and author of the catalogue essay for Robert Mapplethorpe: Portraits. Now an independent curator, Baldwin had a 20-year career at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where he curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions, including Fame and Photography in 1993, Nadar/Warhol (1999, with Judith Keller), The Man in the Street: Eugène Atget in Paris (2000) and exhibitions on Roger Fenton in 1996 and 2005.
Lecture
Mapplethorpe
September 23, 2009
Photographer Brian English, Mapplethorpe’s former studio assistant, will discuss the artist and his practice. Since assisting Mapplethorpe from 1986 until 1989, English has also worked with Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz, and Herb Ritts. He now resides in Los Angeles, where he works for the Herb Ritts Foundation and continues to produce and exhibit his own photographs.
Artist’s Talk
October 2, 2009
Los Angeles-based artist Malerie Marder creates vivid color photographs relating to the time-honored genre of the nude study, made contemporary through a disquieting psychological charge. Educated at Bard College and Yale University, she exhibits internationally. Her photographs are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.