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ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) SAM WAGSTAFF signed, dated and editioned in ink on verso g

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) SAM WAGSTAFF signed, dated and editioned in ink on verso g
ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (American, 1946-1989) SAM WAGSTAFF signed, dated and editioned in ink on verso gelatin silver print 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm) 1979 this print is number 4 from an edition of 10 ESTIMATE: $5,000-7,000 PROVENANCE Private Collection, FRANCE LITERATURE Arthur Danto, MAPPLETHORPE, NEW YORK, 1992, p. 51 (illustrated) In the early 1970s, John McKendry, the art historian and curator of prints and photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gave Mapplethorpe his first camera (a Polaroid SX-70), and introduced him to the artistic beau monde. In 1972 Mapplethorpe met the influential curator and collector Sam Wagstaff, who would become a friend, lover and patron and have perhaps the most profound impact on Mapplethorpe's career. Wagstaff, first a collector of paintings, sculpture and silver, and then later of photography, had impeccable taste and an unparalleled eye. Intrigued by Mapplethorpe's work with the Polaroid, Wagstaff gave him a Hasselblad camera and then continued to nurture Mapplethorpe's career as a photographer, both financially and creatively, introducing him to people who could advance his career until Mapplethorpe was able to eventually obtain financial independence as an artist in his own right. Wagstaff's collection of photographs was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, in 1984, three years prior to Wagstaff's death, and five years before Mapplethorpe's, both of HIV-related problems.