Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), Self-Portrait

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989)
Self-Portrait
signed and dated 'Robert Mapplethorpe '85' (lower right); numbered '2/3' (lower left); signed and dated three times '1985 Robert Mapplethorpe' (in photographer's copyright credit stamp on the reverse)
platinum-palladium print
image: 19 3/8 x 19 5/8in. (49.2 x 49.8cm.)
sheet: 26 x 22in. (66 x 55.8cm.)
Photographed in 1985 and printed in 1985, this work is number two from an edition of three plus one artist's proof

Other platinum prints from the edition are in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York and the joint collection of the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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Provenance
Robert Miller Gallery, New York.
Private Collection, Midwest.
Anon. sale, Sotheby's New York, 6 October 1999, lot 216.
Rex, Inc., New York.
Their sale, Christie's New York, 17 October 2007, lot 135.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.

Pre-Lot Text
FOUR SELF-PORTRAITS BY ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE

Literature
M. Holborn and D. Levas (eds.), Mapplethorpe, London 1995, p. 42 (another example illustrated).
J. Neutres (ed.), Robert Mapplethorpe, exh. cat. Paris, Grand Palais 2014, p. 25 (another example illustrated).
G. Celant, Mapplethorpe: The Nymph Photography, Milan 2014, p. 187, no. 45 (another example illustrated, p. 66).

Exhibited
London, National Portrait Gallery, Mapplethorpe Portraits, 1988, p. 33, no. 13 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Tokyo, I. C. A. C. Weston Gallery, Robert Mapplethorpe, 1992 (another example exhibited).
Tokyo, Teien Museum, Robert Mapplethorpe, 1992- 1993 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Mito, Contemporary Art Gallery; Kamakura, The Museum of Modern Art; Nagoya, Nagoya City Art Museum and Shiga, The Museum of Modern Art.
Monterrey, Museo de Monterrey, Becher Mapplethorpe Sherman, 1992 (another example exhibited).
Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Robert Mapplethorpe, curated by Germano Celant, 1992-1997 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Venice, Centro di Documentazione di Palazzo Fortuny; Turin, Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea; Stockholm, Moderna Museet; Prato, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea; Manila, Residence of Embassador Negroponte; Prato, Museo Pecci Prato; Turku, Finland, Turun Taidemuseo; Brussels, Palais des Beaux Arts; Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró; Vienna, KunstHausWien; Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art; Perth, Art Gallery of Western Australia; Wellington, New Zealand, City Gallery Wellington; London, Hayward Gallery; Dublin, Gallery of Photography; São Paulo, Museo de Art Moderna and Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie.
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Robert Mapplethorpe: Self-Portraits, 1993 (another example exhibited).
Tokyo, Hakone Open-Air Museum, Against All Odds: The Healing Powers of Art, 1994 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Tokyo, Ueno Royal Museum.
Paris, Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Les autoportraits de Mapplethorpe, 1996, no. 37 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
Milan, Gio Marconi Gallery, 1996 (another example exhibited).
Milwaukee, Milwaukee Arts Museum, Identity Crisis: Self Portraiture at the End of the Century, 1997 (another example exhibited).
Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Love’s Body: Rethinking Naked and Nude in Photography, 1998 (another example exhibited).
Valencia, Centre Cultural La Beneficencia, Robert Mapplethorpe, 1999 (another example exhibited).
Havana, Fototeca de Cuba, Sacred and Profane: Robert Mapplethorpe, 2005 (another example exhibited).
Turin, Palazzo della Promotrice, Robert Mapplethorpe: Tra antico e moderno: Un' antologia, 2006 (another example exhibited).
Prien am Chiemseem, Germany, Galerie im Alten Rathaus, Robert Mapplethorpe: Porträts und Erotik, 2006 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Klagenfurt, Austria, Stadtgalerie.
Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, Guggenheim Collection: 1940s to Now, 2007 (another example exhibited).
Bogota, FotoMuseo National Museum of Photography, Fotografica Bogota, 2009 (another example exhibited).
London, Alison Jacques Gallery, Robert Mapplethorpe: A Season in Hell, 2009 (another example exhibited).
Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Robert Mapplethrope: Eros and Order, 2010 (another example exhibited).
Dusseldorf, NRW-Forum Kultur Wirtschaft, Robert Mapplethorpe, 2010 (another example exhibited).
Berlin, C/O Berlin, Robert Mapplethorpe, 2011 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Stockholm, Fotografiska; Milan, Forma Foundation for Photography and Budapest, Ludwig Museum.
R. Koch (ed.), Master Photographers, Paris 2012, p. 274 (another example exhibited and illustrated).
New York, Skarstedt Gallery, Robert Mapplethorpe Self-Portraits, 2013.
Paris, Musée Rodin, Mapplethorpe/Rodin, 2014, p. 192, no. 88 (another example exhibited and illustrated, unpaged).
Paris, Grand Palais, Robert Mapplethorpe, 2014-2015, p. 25 (another example exhibited). This exhibition later travelled to Helsinki, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.
Fort Worth, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Urban Theater: New York Art in the 1980s, 2014-2015 (another example exhibited).
Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Warhol & Mapplethorpe Guise & Dolls, 2015-2016, pl. 70, p.126 (another example exhibited and illustrated, p. 127).
Munich, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Du Bist Faust: Goethes Drama in der Kunst, 2017 (another example exhibited).