ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946 1989) Gay Power Volume 1 number 1

Sale 2514 - Lot 148

Price Realized: $ 2,500

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Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE (1946-1989)

Gay Power. Volume 1, number 16.

Underground newspaper with cover image by Mapplethorpe of his photographic collage titled "Bull's Eye;" numerous illustrations and articles; edited by John Heys. Folio, 23 pages on newsprint, covers unevenly toned, spine worn and chipped; paper fragile. New York: Joel Fabricant, May 1970.

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scarce copy of this important early gay newspaper bearing what is believed to be robert mapplethorpe's earliest published photograph. The photographer received his first camera in 1970 and was enrolled as a student at the Pratt Institute of Design studying graphic art when he made the collage entitled "Bull's Eye," reproduced on this cover. The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation in New York does not identify any published Mapplethorpe photos predating it and no copies are recorded in WorldCat. This publication also predates his first one-man show held at Stanley Amos's gallery in the Chelsea Hotel on 4 November 1970. Mapplethorpe started taking his own photos to use in collages instead of using images from books and magazines because "it was more honest"--mapplethorpe.org (biography).