• Photographs auction at Christies

    Sale 12204

    Photographs

    New York

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    5 October 2016

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    • Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989
    Lot 119

    Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)

    Invitation to Light Gallery opening, January 6, 1973

    Price realised

    USD 6,875

    Estimate

    USD 5,000 - USD 7,000

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    Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)
    Invitation to Light Gallery opening, January 6, 1973
    gelatin silver print from Polaroid negative with adhesive dot
    embossed photographer's credit (margin); typed, 'Robert Mapplethorpe/Backroom at/LIGHT' with gallery address and hours (verso)
    image: 3 x 3 3/4 in. (7.6 x 9.5 cm.)
    sheet: 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (8.9 x 11.3 cm.)

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    Literature and exhibited

    Literature

    Sylvia Wolf, Polaroids: Mapplethorpe, Prestel, Munich, Berlin, London, New York, 2008, pl. 193, p. 233.


    Lot Essay

    On the occasion of his first solo exhibition, Mapplethorpe made hundreds of prints of his image, Untitled (self-portrait), using the original Polaroid negative. Each print was treated with the strategically applied white adhesive dot, enclosed in a protective Polaroid sleeve reading, 'DON'T TOUCH HERE', and sent out in a cream-colored Tiffany envelope as an invitation to the exhibition.

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