Mapplethorpe Flora

<P><B> The definitive collection of Robert Mapplethorpe¿s flower photographs </B><B>in a sophisticated new edition</B></P><P> Robert Mapplethorpe is one of the twentieth century¿s most important artists, known for his ground-breaking and provocative work. He studied painting, drawing, and sculpture in Brooklyn in the 1960s and started taking photographs when he acquired a Polaroid camera, in 1970. Beginning in 1973 and until his death in 1989, Mapplethorpe explored the flower with extraordinary dedication, using a range of photographic processes ¿ from Polaroids to dye-transfer color works. </P><P>In carefully constructed compositions, he captured roses, orchids, snapdragons, daisies, tulips and other species ¿ both common and rare ¿ and forever transformed the way we perceive a classic and familiar subject. The result ¿ a stunning body of work ¿ is collected in this elegant book, with a foreword by Mapplethorpe¿s close friend Dimitri Levas and an introduction by Herbert Muschamp.</P>