Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/robert-mapplethorpe-11413" aria-label="More by Robert Mapplethorpe" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Robert Mapplethorpe</a>
Waves
ARTIST ROOMS
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
beach
coast
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
photographic
sea
seascapes and coasts
wave
paper print photograph gelatin silver
28 February 2015 – 23 May 2015
2015-05-23
28 February 2015 – 23 May 2015
2015-05-23
2015-02-28
Clydebank Museum (Clydebank, UK)
2015-02-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
Waves
support: 341 × 342 mm
frame: 611 × 588 × 38 mm
<a href="/search?gid=999999788" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">ARTIST ROOMS</a>
Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the <a href="/search?gid=999999967" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">National Heritage Memorial Fund</a> and the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 2008
<p>Mapplethorpe rarely photographed nature outside in the raw and wild. The sea, with its changeable and unpredictable moods, would seem to be an unlikely subject for him, but the way that he tackles it gives it order and regularity - elements that are central to Mapplethorpe’s aesthetic. He photographs it head on, so that the horizon, the waves and shoreline line up in horizontal bands. Note also how he gives the sky and the shore equal spaces in the composition.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
beach coast emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities photographic sea seascapes and coasts wave