 In the late 1970s Chatwin spent an increasing amount of time in New York City . He continued to have affairs with men , but most of these affairs were short @-@ lived . In 1977 he began his first serious affair with Donald Richards , an Australian stockbroker . Richards introduced him to the gay nightclub scene in New York . During this period Chatwin became acquainted with Robert Mapplethorpe , who photographed him . Chatwin is one of the few men Mapplethorpe photographed fully clothed . Chatwin later contributed the introduction to a book of Mapplethorpe 's photographs , Lady , Lisa Lyon ( 1983 ) . 
