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Lot Essay
In 1987, Robert Mapplethorpe mounted an exhibition at the Robert Miller Gallery of photographic constructions - single panel, diptychs and triptychs of platinum prints on linen which were often accompanied by a panel of silk and then put into frames also designed by Mapplethorpe. The exhibition was mentioned in the following excerpt from an article by Andy Grundberg in The New York Times:
'Suddenly, it is no longer enough for a photograph to be a picture of something. For a photograph to succeed in the art world, all the signs this spring suggest, it needs to be an object. And the more elaborate, the better.'
'Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs, now on view at the Robert Miller Gallery 1 (41 East 57th Street, through May 23), are a case in point. Printed on linen cloth using the archaic platinum process, they are mounted on stretchers, like paintings, and float within frames of thick, black wood. More often than not they are flanked by a panel (sometimes two) of understated but luxurious fabric. The resulting diptychs and triptychs recall Minimalist painting more than they resemble photographs.' (The New York Times, May 3, 1987, p. H29)
The current lot, American Flag, 1987, was purchased by the present owner from the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, where an exhibition of these works was mounted subsequently. According to the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation's records, there were originally three examples of this piece produced: the current lot, another example that was damaged and then destroyed and a third (AP 1/1) that was unsigned by Mapplethorpe at the time of his death and posthumously stretched and framed.
'Suddenly, it is no longer enough for a photograph to be a picture of something. For a photograph to succeed in the art world, all the signs this spring suggest, it needs to be an object. And the more elaborate, the better.'
'Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs, now on view at the Robert Miller Gallery 1 (41 East 57th Street, through May 23), are a case in point. Printed on linen cloth using the archaic platinum process, they are mounted on stretchers, like paintings, and float within frames of thick, black wood. More often than not they are flanked by a panel (sometimes two) of understated but luxurious fabric. The resulting diptychs and triptychs recall Minimalist painting more than they resemble photographs.' (The New York Times, May 3, 1987, p. H29)
The current lot, American Flag, 1987, was purchased by the present owner from the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, where an exhibition of these works was mounted subsequently. According to the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation's records, there were originally three examples of this piece produced: the current lot, another example that was damaged and then destroyed and a third (AP 1/1) that was unsigned by Mapplethorpe at the time of his death and posthumously stretched and framed.