Mapplethorpe Flora : Phaidon Press : 9781838668211 : 1838668217 : 09 May 2024 : The definitive collection of Robert Mapplethorpe's flower photographs in a sophisticated new edition 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. 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