Robert Mapplethorpe: American Controversial

Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now, a Yearlong Exhibition in Two Parts

In 2019, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, will present a yearlong exhibition, Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe

Now, conceived in two sequential parts honoring the groundbreaking work and sustained legacy of Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the most critically acclaimed yet controversial American artists of the late twentieth century.

An era-defining artist of the 20th century, Robert Mapplethorpe was a photographer known for his controversial, highly stylized black and white images that literally changed the medium of modern photography. His work featured a wide array of subjects and themes, but his most provocative work by far is that of the underground bondage and sadomasochistic scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Guggenheim Museum holds one of the most comprehensive public repositories of the work of Robert Mapplethorpe in the world, having received approximately two hundred photographs and unique objects from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in 1993. Thirty years after the artist’s death, Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe

Now celebrates the full range of Mapplethorpe’s extraordinary artistic contributions as well as the impact of the Mapplethorpe Foundation’s gift on the museum’s photography collection and exhibition program.

The first phase of the exhibition will feature an installation of highlights

from the Guggenheim’s rich collection of Mapplethorpe holdings, including selections from the artist’s early Polaroids, collages, and mixed-media constructions; iconic, classicising photographs of male and female nudes, flowers, and statuary; portraits of artists, celebrities, and acquaintances; explicit depictions of the S&M underground; and some of Mapplethorpe’s

best-known self-portraits.

The second phase will address the artist’s resounding impact on the field of contemporary portraiture and self-representation, and aims to reflect the many complex conversations surrounding Mapplethorpe’s work that have arisen over the past three decades. In addition to a focused selection of Mapplethorpe photographs, the second phase will also feature contemporary artists from the Guggenheim’s collection who either actively engage with and reference Mapplethorpe’s work or whose approach to picturing the body and exploring identity through portraiture finds resonances with Mapplethorpe’s formal and social strategies.