?A renowned figure of contemporary photography, Robert Mapplethorpe (1946?1989) was in his element in a domain defined by conventions and revolt, classicism and non-conformist cultures, where each picture serves as a document of hard-fought identities, as well as inciting and recording social and artistic debates,? LUMU says of the show.
The exhibition is the first large-scale independent show of Mapplethorpe?s works in Budapest.
LUMU director Barnabás Bencsik said visitors to the show can see the life work of an artist who devoted himself to maximum expression of identity, the full freedom of artistic expression and explored a world through his photos that used to be hidden from the wider public. His photographs were originally received with controversy but have since become some of the most sought-after works among museums world wide, he added.
Michael Ward Stout, chairman of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York, said that the travelling exhibition had been in Dusseldorf, Berlin, Stockholm and Milan before arriving in Budapest where it received an impressive and large exhibition space.
Mapplethorpe established the foundation shortly before his death and it currently holds almost his entire oeuvre, including some 14,000 gelatine prints, 1,800 Polaroids, collages from Mapplethorpe?s youth and several other work, Stout said.
The curator of the Budapest show Nikolett Erőss said Mapplethorpe was driven by a desire to find the perfect form. But his photos were more than that, they also became part of a very serious social discourse about the development and experience of identity, she added.
Erőss said visitors can follow one of two routes through the show, one of which circumvents spaces with images unsuitable for children.
She added that even when Mapplethorpe photographed sexual images and body parts, his intention was not to stimulate but to pursue his dedication to seek the perfect form.
