ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989)

Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) was an American photographer best known for his black-and-white portraits and still lives concerned with Classical aspects of beauty. The artist began his collaboration with Graphicstudio intrigued by the possibilities of photogravure, an almost forgotten 19th century photographic process that the studio had begun to research and revitalize in the 1980s. Photogravure's range of tones and shadow detail was ideal for the interpretation of Mapplethorpe's exquisite figure study and still-life photography, and he was open to experimentation with color and texture. In their collaboration between 1985 and 1987, Mapplethorpe and Graphicstudio's Research Director Deli Sacilotto gave an entirely new look to the beautiful process, which had been ignored by photographers for over six decades.