Robert Mapplethorpe counts as one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century and created a body of work which is - till today - outstanding.

In the early 1970s, after he had finished art school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he was beginning to start experimenting with a Polaroid camera. At that time a new kind of advanced technology. Later, he switched to his 6x6 camera and created a new iconic style of photographs. He didn't see himself as a photographer. His main interest was the relationship between, body, form and shapes.

"As in all his art, Mapplethorpe combines abstract, formal considerations with his personal and refined vision of idealized beauty in a photographic image to achieve a powerful and memorable statement." Richard Marshall

The German filmmaker Ralph Goertz went on the footsteps of Robert Mapplethorpe in New York, at The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Malibu, Munich and Duesseldorf. This documentary was produced in occasion of the retrospective show on Robert Mapplethorpe back in 2010 at the NRW-Forum.

Goertz met with Lothar Schirmer (publisher), Jürgen Harten (art historian), F.C. Gundlach (collector), Michael Ward Stout (The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation) and some of his former models like Lydia Cheng, Ken Moody and Isabella Rossellini, but also - for the first time - with Lady Lisa Lyon. The film also accompanied one of the most important figures in the life of Robert Mapplethorpe at a very special opening event at the Alison Jaques Gallery in London: PATTI SMITH.

This documentary has been awarded as the winner of the "Delphic Art Movie Award" in 2011.

Robert Mapplethorpe - Shapes
a film by Ralph Goertz

Filmed on SD and HD 720p
Duration: 39min. / HD 720p
Language: English (sometimes German with English subtitles)

In co-operation with NRW-Forum und The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
all Robert Mapplethorpe works © The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used by permission
© Ralph Goertz / IKS-Medienarchiv

Music: Kreidler / Patti Smith
video content on Patti Smith contributed and permitted by Vernissage TV / onmedia ag

This film is for private use only! Public performance, broadcast or other use is prohibited.
All rights reserved

Note: Some works by Robert Mapplethorpe contain nudity and can disturb the viewer - especially young people - in their feelings.

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