Arts et design,une histoire visuelle de 1850 à nos jours

Author: Robert Mapplethorpe

Publication Date: March 2014

Publishing House: Schirmer-Mosel

Among the motifs considered to be typically Mapplethorpe–i.e. nudes, portraits, black men, and the New York gay scene–flowers had a firmly-established (albeit less spectacular) position. The first date from the seventies; the last were taken shortly before his death. Design was also dominant here; the perfect, emphatically artifical arrangement. And in the final analysis, he was also concerned with the same subject: stylizing sexuality into a still life. Under Mapplethorpe’s gaze, flowers lose their mellifluous-ness and innocent symbolism. They suddenly reveal a perfidious, at times decadent, eloquence. Once again one encounters two things in their utmost perfection: erotic drama and absolute clarity of composition–the celestial poles and quintessence of Mapplethorpe’s work. His long-time partner, singer-songwriter Patti Smith, composed a farewell poem for this volume.

Author: Mario Testino

Publishing House: TASCHEN

Publication Date: 19 May 2020

Venice, Rome, Naples, Florence. This is Italy as we have never seen it before. By the sea and in the streets, from Turin to Montepulciano, discover an intimate portrait of Italy that Mario Testino knows and loves. Bringing together personal and never-before-published photographs, it is an ode to the people, art, gastronomy and Italian fashion.