Block Museum, Northwestern University
40 Arts Circle Dr, Evanston
847.491.4000
This event has passed.
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Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled (self-portrait), 1973/5. Copyright © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.
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Jan 13, 2009 – Apr 5, 2009
Tuesdays (10am–5pm)
Wednesdays–Fridays (10am–8pm)
Saturdays–Sundays (noon–5pm)
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- Price
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The name Robert Mapplethorpe might bring to mind formal photographs of flowers or homoerotic figure studies — or more likely, the late-'80s obscenity and art funding controversies — but it all started with an instant Polaroid camera. The nearly 100 early Polaroids on view at the Block Museum reveal an artist developing his photographic eye and experimenting with composition, but many of the pictures feel surprisingly polished. These diminutive portraits and shots of miscellaneous objects hint at his later work: classical echoes, fascination with the body's form, undisguised sexuality. And the rows of small photographs pull you in close, lending a certain intimacy as you glance over Mapplethorpe's lovers and friends, among them Patti Smith.
