Live Auction 12204Photographs
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)
Lot 119

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)

Invitation to Light Gallery opening, January 6, 1973

Closed5 October 2016

Price Realised

USD 6,875

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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.)

Specialist note

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.