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ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) RICHARD (DIPTYCH) "left" and "right" inscribed in pencil o

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:12,000.00 - 18,000.00 USD
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) RICHARD (DIPTYCH)  left  and  right  inscribed in pencil o
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) RICHARD (DIPTYCH) "left" and "right" inscribed in pencil on verso of each respective mount unique diptych of two gelatin silver prints in the original artist's frame overall dimensions: 22 x 34 x 2 in. (55.9 x 86.4 50.1 cm) each image: 615/16 x 615/16 in. (17.6 x 17.6 cm) 1978 ESTIMATE: $12,000-18,000 PROVENANCE Collection of Baldwin Fong, NEW YORK Private Collection, NEW YORK EXHIBITED NEW YORK, Whitney Museum of American Art, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, July 27-October 23, 1988 new york, Robert Miller Gallery, Sex, May 1999 LITERATURE Richard Marshall, ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE, NEW YORK, 1988, p. 69 (illustrated) Arthur Danto, MAPPLETHORPE, NEW YORK, 1992, p. 113 (left image illustrated) Robert Mapplethorpe, ALTARS, NEW YORK, 1995, p. 89, 90-91 (illustrated) ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE: TEN BY TEN, Munich, 1995, pl. 14 (right image illustrated) Pornography played a central role in Robert Mapplethorpe's artistic mission, making him not only an artist of his time, but perhaps the artist of his time. RICHARD, 1978, could never be considered a conventional pornographic image, but clearly reflects the seventies as an era of liberation, a period dedicated to the removal of barriers to free expression and personal fulfillment, especially true in the domain of sex. In an interview with Dominick Dunne for VANITY FAIR Magazine, Mapplethorpe explained that, "Most of the people in S&M were proud of what they were doing. It was giving pleasure to one another. It was not about hurting. It was sort of an art....It was pleasure, even though it looked painful.... S&M means sex and magic, not sadomasochism. It was all about trust." RICHARD 1978 is one of the most challenging and difficult works to emerge from this period of Mapplethorpe's life. The unique diptych, mimics an altarpiece, and perhaps references Mapplethorpe's own Catholicism in its symmetrical format (please refer to text for Lot 56). The juxtaposed images - before and after - make contact with something deep inside the psyche.