Robert Mapplethorpe was born in Floral Park, New York. He studied at Pratt Institute located in Brooklyn where he painted and sculpted. He wasn’t in the photography field until he met Patti Smith in 1969. He then began to produce collages of photographs after obtaining a Polaroid camera in 1970. His first work was called “Polaroids” where he mounted his first solo gallery of all the photographs he took using that camera. He collaborated with and created content for his friends that were in the entertainment industry such as album covers. He also began to take an interest in the S & M underground scene in New York, feeling a sense of need to document them. His career took a good leap in 1977, where he participated in many galleries. His preferred genres are portraits of male and female nudes and flower still lives.

In 1986, Mapplethorpe was diagnosed with AIDS. Even though he had a deadly disease, he continued to create astonishing work that later on gets displayed at the Whitney Museum of American Art in the year 1988. That same year he also established the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation to promote photography and to fund medical research for HIV and AIDS. Sadly, Mapplethorpe passed away a year later in 1989.

Resources:

http://www.mapplethorpe.org/portfolios/self-portraits/

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/robert-mapplethorpe?gclid=Cj0KCQiA34OBBhCcARIsAG32uvNGoxYzHD-k-r40qURi7zqogfU3w7P7gjznYmgoh6ehhG1quY-NW_QaAneJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds