20. ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE - A SPACE BETWEEN SPONTANEITY AND CONTROL.
A portrait of Lisa Lyon by Robert Mapplethorpe - Phillips auction house - LONDON.
Lot 134, Robert Mapplethorpe, Lisa Lyon 1982. Gelatin silver print, mounted. Signed, dated and numbered 1/10. - Phillips, London.
There is something distinctly fascinating about an auction room, the amassed collection of objects belonging to a previous owner, objects from a life - which once were positioned in a space that was specifically private, and now exposed on a white wall to the general public with a brief description identifying its provenance, held in limbo until a new owner is secured by acquisition.
The late Sam Wagstaff, who died in 1987, the discerning curator of modern art and visionary collector of photography and American silver would surely have been at this sale. The elegant and discreet collector known for his innate instinct for the rare and undiscovered - a visual hunter who would source his art with the completest desire of an addict. His drug of choice may have been image, but the anticipation in the search surely inspired his quest. Piecing his collection of imagery together with a jeweler's eye, Wagstaff would present his discoveries to his partner and protègè Robert Mapplethorpe, a paring that inspired creative exploration aligned to the exacting influences of masterpiece imagery sourced from auction rooms, private sales, and flea markets.
The influence of this collection of works which was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum before his death is dazzling - a self-portrait of someone who sought light in the black and white stills created by others, cross-referencing a dual combination of opposites in the beautifully humble monograph of the jewels in his collection 'A Book of Photographs' published in 1978.
In his foreword to Mapplethorpe's book 'Lady', which includes the many portraits of Lisa Lyon, he writes:'With a new, self-made woman available for all seasons, the shy pornographer has decided to take a series of carom shots off her revised feminity'. This revised femininity presents many alter egos of womanhood, as Bruce Chatwin writes; 'In session after session, Lisa posed as bride, broad, doll, moll, playgirl, beach-girl, bike girl, gym-girl; as frog person, mud-person, flamenco dancer, spiritual medium, archetypal huntress, circus artiste, snake-woman, society woman, young Christian, and kink'.
The portrait of Lisa Lyon by Robert Mapplethorpe was presented in Phillips auction house as part of 'A Private London Collection Like No Other' in May 2023, and immediately stands out as a key example of the artist's unorthodox and iconoclastic style.
The triptych of light panels frames the silhouette of performance artist Lisa Lyon, or so we presume, her veiled appearance concealed from our gaze and yet allowing for her own. That trio of panes neatly frames with religious calm, an ephemeral altarpiece created by the sun - stark and symbolic and devoid of distracting decoration. The silhouetted shadow of this sun Madonna stands to the right, leaving the left frame empty.
Robert Mapplethorpe was known for his love of the night, the nocturnal hours he worked, observed, and documented, leaving the rolls of film for his assistants to print in the morning - a relay routine on repeat. The stark control of his favored electrical light, rarely photographing in sunlight or depicting a portrait sitter twice - and so the folio of Lisa Lyon is a prime example of a new approach, where a relationship of dozens of images of a singular sitter is presented, in differing locations and using natural light.
Lyon veiled is one of the standout pictures from the series and is an important moment as it further pushes the photographer's portraiture to its abstracted best, the composition is pure architecture, mirrored minimalism - and yet immediately communicates that specific Mapplethorpe atmosphere - immediate sexual tension and sophisticated charged simplicity. For an artist known for his extreme sense of control within image and life, the cast shadow in the image is intriguing, reading like a sundial, we are able to identify that the image was taken at a specific time in the late afternoon, the sun is low in the sky, creating the long, intense shadows to fall with intensity. The silhouetted window frames, free from curtains or blinds expose the clean lines of the industrial, and so suggest a warehouse or loft like the Tony Smith-designed high-rise apartments of Mapplethorpe's partner Sam Wagstaff.
A newly unfolded piece of satin cloth chosen as a veil still rippled with the fine creasing of its dormancy, immediately reminds me of sand dunes embossed with similar rhythmic ripples. The fiber of this veil is hard to decipher, its silken appearance feels habotai luxurious, and yet the creases suggest the cloth being recently unwrapped or unrolled from a tightly wound poll feels specifically synthetic, like a cupro lining used for traditionally masculine tailored garments. In the full published portfolio of images, which this image derives, its twin depicts Lyon in near exact pose, her semi-opaque veiled appearance, however sunlight bright georgette sheer. Arms held out, parallel to her body like a classical dancer, her wrists held out as if suspended by strings. A puppet awaiting manipulation from her master.
Lisa Lyon by Robert Mapplethorpe.