Polaroids: Mapplethorpe January 30, 2010

This exhibition brings together ninety of Mapplethorpe's early Polaroids, many never exhibited before. Included are self-portraits, figure studies, still lifes, and portraits of lovers and friends such as Patti Smith, Sam Wagstaff, and Marianne Faithfull. Many of these small, intimate photographs convey tenderness and vulnerability. Others depict a toughness and immediacy that would give way in later years to more classical form. Unlike the highly crafted images Mapplethorpe staged in the studio and became famous for, these disarming pictures are marked by spontaneity and invention. Together they offer insight into the artist's creative development and reveal his pure delight in seeing at a formative time in his career.