Robert mapplethorpe book biography of harper

By Patricia Morrisroe

Robert Mapplethorpe was among the most controversial figures in the contemporary art world, causing shock and awe in equal measure.

This is his story.

While some of Mapplethorpe’s photographs were praised for their startlingly beautiful composition, others were condemned for their explicit sexuality. In Mapplethorpe: A Biography, Patricia Morrisroe chronicles the development of the man and his art through four decades of the American cultural scene.

Based on conversations with literally hundreds of people who knew the photographer during various periods of his life – as Catholic schoolboy, military cadet, free-spirited hippie, sexual explorer, art world enfant terrible and New York society figure – the book paints a vivid, powerful and insightful portrait and will stand as the definitive exploration of the life and times of one of the most censored and celebrated photographers of the twentieth century.His long and very clo