MAPPLETHORPE ROBERT (1946 1989) Phyllis Tweel

Sale 2158 - Lot 320

Price Realized: $ 4,800

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

MAPPLETHORPE, ROBERT (1946-1989)
Phyllis Tweel. Silver print, 14 inches square (35.6 cm. square), with Mapplethorpe's signature, date, and inscription, "For Phylis [sic]," in ink, on recto. 1979

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with--A handwritten postcard of this image addressed to Phyllis Tweel from Mapplethorpe, on which he writes: "I look forward to seeing your face/xo/Robert."

Gifted by Mapplethorpe to the sitter, Phyllis Tweel, and accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation.

Originally the result of a commission from the ICP, this image has remained well-known. Following the ICP exhibit, a print was purchased by CBGBs in 1980, and appeared in the controversial Cincinnati, Ohio exhibit featured in the film "Dirty Pictures."

Phyllis A. Tweel, a well-known photojournalist and fashion icon, remembers the following from her sitting and long friendship with Mapplethorpe: "Robert and I locked eyes across a crowded room. Robert was young, curious and aspiring. I was young, stylish and a controversial photojournalist gaining fame and notoriety with each daily column for Fairchild Publication […] It was 1977 … This was New York City at its most glorious-very creative, very daring and very accepting … Robert had always been fascinated with me and the way in which I expressed myself through my unique style, speech and body language." After being asked to sit for Mapplethorpe, Tweel arrived at his Bond Street studio/loft and nearly left after being confronted with his nude imagery. Then "Robert appeared in all of his boy-like innocence and with those piercing blue eyes." Needless to say, she stayed.