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Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition:
Photographs and Mannerist Prints The exhibition in Moscow which has been organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation of New York and the State Hermitage of St Petersburg explores the relationship between Robert Mapplethorpe's photography and classical art. The superb Hermitage collection of Italian painting and sculpture provides a rather complete account of the development of art in Italy from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. It includes a large group of works from Mannerist artists. Around 50 works by these artists from the Hermitage collection are exhibited together with a similar number of works by Mapplethorpe from the collection of the Guggenheim, together with several bronze sculptures from the late 16th century until the beginning of the 17th century which were made by Italian, French and Flemish masters. The classical photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989) are shown to reflect the prints of Dutch and Flemish Mannerist masters Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Muller, Jacob Matham, and Jan Saenredam, who, in turn, were influenced by classical and Italian art. The central theme of the exhibition is the interrelationship between Mapplethorpe's photographs and the elaborate forms of Mannerist art, in particular studies of the human form in all its sensuous manifestations. Classicism gives special attention when depicting the human body to clarity and energy, which are present also in all of Mapplethorpe's models. From Michelangelo to Antonio Canova, Mapplethorpe was inspired by Renaissance sculpture and the art of late neoclassicism. For him the classical ideal was not only a poetic inspiration, but also served as an ethical model. .In his quest for the ideal form, Mapplethorpe described photography as "the perfect way to make a sculpture." The potency of love and Eros which we see in many of the Mannerist works shown in the exhibition can also be seen in Mapplethorpe's works. The vital anatomical forms of his portraits of models may be compared with the models of Jan Harmensz Muller's Sabine Woman and Jacob Matham's Apollo. When Mapplethorpe tragically died at the young age of 42, he was considered one of the most important photographers of his time. His elegant and sometimes shocking nudes, the black-and-white portraits, and still lifes have had an undeniable impact on the art world. |
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Copyright © 2006 State
Hermitage Museum |
