Thomas

Robert Mapplethorpe is one of the best-known portrait photographers of his generation, and one of the first to be recognized as a fine artist within the contemporary art world. Thomas highlights Mapplethorpe’s unmistakable photographic palette (strong black and white tonalities and soft greys) and his compositional acumen. The addition of Thomas, which is the first vintage gelatin silver photograph in the MIA’s collection by Robert Mapplethorpe, fills a crucial gap in the collection and builds on the MIA’s collection of studio portrait artists, from Richard Avedon to Irving Penn.