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Lot Essay
Included in the Guggenheim’s permanent collection and exhibited in the museum’s recent retrospective of the artist, Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1984 image of Grace Jones is not only a collaboration of these icons at the peak of their careers, but also of two more of the major figures of 20th century art: Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.
Following Grace Jones' release of the album 'Slave to the Rhythms' in 1984, Andy Warhol organized a photo-shoot for his Interview magazine that brought together these leading cultural figures of the 1980s. Haring and Jones were close friends having been introduced by Warhol, and the three would often be seen together at New York’s nightclubs. By contrast, Mapplethorpe was a relative outsider and although Warhol and Mapplethorpe respected each other’s work, their relationship was one more founded on rivalry rather than friendship. On July 24th of that year, the four convened in Mapplethorpe's 24 Bond Street studio for the shoot. Jones makes full use of the stage that Mapplethorpe’s lens offers, standing on one leg, arms spread wide in full recognition of her position as model and muse of a generation. Mapplethorpe's resulting images from this nearly 18-hour collaborative session captures the direct and classical style for which the photographer was known, while simultaneously showcasing and celebrating the qualities of each of the artists involved.
The offering of this present lot marks only the second time that an image from this momentous shoot has come to auction in the last approximately thirty years.
Following Grace Jones' release of the album 'Slave to the Rhythms' in 1984, Andy Warhol organized a photo-shoot for his Interview magazine that brought together these leading cultural figures of the 1980s. Haring and Jones were close friends having been introduced by Warhol, and the three would often be seen together at New York’s nightclubs. By contrast, Mapplethorpe was a relative outsider and although Warhol and Mapplethorpe respected each other’s work, their relationship was one more founded on rivalry rather than friendship. On July 24th of that year, the four convened in Mapplethorpe's 24 Bond Street studio for the shoot. Jones makes full use of the stage that Mapplethorpe’s lens offers, standing on one leg, arms spread wide in full recognition of her position as model and muse of a generation. Mapplethorpe's resulting images from this nearly 18-hour collaborative session captures the direct and classical style for which the photographer was known, while simultaneously showcasing and celebrating the qualities of each of the artists involved.
The offering of this present lot marks only the second time that an image from this momentous shoot has come to auction in the last approximately thirty years.