Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition to open in October at IU's Grunwald Gallery
Photographs donated to The Kinsey Institute will be exhibited together for the first time
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- "Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographs from The Kinsey Institute Collection" will go on display Oct. 10 through Nov. 22 at Indiana University's Grunwald Gallery. Presented jointly by the Grunwald Gallery and The Kinsey Institute, the exhibition marks the first time this group of photographs has been publicly shown.
Mapplethorpe is considered by art historians to be one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. His striking black-and-white photographs capture a classical beauty that is both formal and raw.
In 2011, The Kinsey Institute received a gift of 30 prints from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. These photographs dating from 1976 to 1985 are excellent examples of Mapplethorpe's more challenging work. Some of the gelatin silver prints are nude or clothed portraits, while others contain explicit homosexual and heterosexual imagery from the New York S&M scene.
At the time of the gift, foundation president Michael Stout described the works as some of the artist's "most memorable and most difficult." The Kinsey Institute was chosen to receive this group of photographs because of its scholarly mission and IU's storied record of academic freedom, Stout said.
Visiting speakers
On Oct. 10, photo critic Philip Gefter will deliver a lecture on "Robert Mapplethorpe, Sam Wagstaff, and the Gay Sensibility." The event will take place at 5 p.m. in Room 102 at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. An opening reception will follow from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Grunwald Gallery.
Gefter writes about photography for The Daily Beast. He previously covered the subject at The New York Times for more than 15 years. Aperture recently published his book of essays, "Photography After Frank."
In 2010, Gefter produced the acclaimed feature-length documentary, "Bill Cunningham New York." His current project is "Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe -- A Biography," which will be published by W.W. Norton & Co. in November.
On Oct. 24, Andrew Moisey will present the gallery talk "Robert Mapplethorpe: Pleasure and Pain" at noon in the Grunwald. Moisey is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Cultural Analysis at Rutgers University.
Cultural dialogue
Though Mapplethorpe is well known for a variety of subjects, including celebrity portraits and flower studies, his more explicit photographs have sparked a wider public dialogue.
In 1989, a retrospective of Mapplethorpe's work, "The Perfect Moment," helped ignite a fierce culture war after Republican Sen. Jesse Helms discovered that the National Endowment for the Arts had awarded the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia $30,000 toward the exhibition. A battle ensued over the government’s role in funding for the arts.
One year later, the same exhibition provoked local law enforcement in Cincinnati, Ohio, to accuse Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center and its director of pandering pornography and promoting obscenity. A famous trial resulted in which the definition of art itself was the essential issue. Art and the exhibition prevailed, as all charges were dismissed.
"Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographs from The Kinsey Institute Collection" opens 25 years after the artist's death and the opening of "The Perfect Moment" retrospective. All 30 Mapplethorpe photographs from the Kinsey collection will be featured, along with materials that address the controversy surrounding the 1989 exhibition and the culture wars of the early 1990s.
The Mapplethorpe exhibition and related events provide an opportunity to examine changes in the social climate that may or may not have occurred over the past several decades. What lasting effects did the culture wars have on the public's perception of art? Did Mapplethorpe make the exploration of this subject matter more or less difficult for other artists? How does one determine what is obscene and what is art?
A companion exhibition, "Beyond Mapplethorpe," features images by photographers who either influenced his work or were his contemporaries in the 1970s and 1980s. The show of more than 20 photographs from The Kinsey Institute includes work by Tom Bianchi, George Platt Lynes, Len Prince, Bettina Rheims, Herb Ritts and Arthur Tress. Although these images may not be as overtly sexual as some of Mapplethorpe’s photographs, they reveal the same interest in exploring and expanding the artistic possibilities of the human figure.
The Mapplethorpe exhibition and corresponding programs have been made possible by The College Arts and Humanities Institute in the College of Arts and Sciences, the Grunwald Gallery of Art, the Department of Sociology, and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, all at Indiana University; the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York; Michael E. Rudder of California; and other private donors. Malcolm Daniel, photography curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Claude Cookman, professor emeritus of the School of Journalism at IU, were instrumental in acquiring these gifts to The Kinsey Institute from the Mapplethorpe Foundation.
For further information, contact the Grunwald Gallery at 812-855-8490 or grunwald@indiana.edu. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. The Grunwald Gallery is accessible to people with disabilities. All events are free and open to the public.
Photograph use and restrictions
Several high-resolution images are available to the media for routine use in conjunction with articles on "Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographs from The Kinsey Institute Collection," with the following restrictions:
These images shall not be cropped, overlaid with text, colorized, solarized or otherwise altered without the written permission of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Images must be credited: © The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission. Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute ®
Images may not be embedded or transmitted on social media platforms including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. In social media, links can connect to images in news articles or other approved online content.
Commercial use or any unusually predominant editorial use, such as cover use on a publication, a two-page layout or a series of more than four images, requires the advance consent of foundation manager Joree Adilman, joree@mapplethorpe.org.
The following four images are suitable for general publication. To obtain image files for use in conjunction with coverage of “Robert Mapplethorpe: Photographs from The Kinsey Institute Collection,” please contact Catherine Johnson-Roehr, catjohns@indiana.edu.
Embrace, 1982 ©The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission. Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute®
Snakeman, 1981 ©The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission. Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute®
Frank Diaz, 1980 ©The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission. Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute®
Self Portrait, 1980 ©The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission. Courtesy of The Kinsey Institute®
Media Contacts
Catherine Johnson-Roehr
- The Kinsey Institute
- Office 812-855-8890
- catjohns@indiana.edu