Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Portraits
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>
Bob Love
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
adults
basketball player
black
body
emotions, concepts and ideas
equestrian and sporting
ethnicity
formal qualities
head / face
individuals: male
light
Love, Bob
man
named individuals
natural phenomena
people
photographic
portraits
work and occupations
<p>This black and white photograph features the model Bob Love in a close-up, three-quarter profile. The frame is cropped so that only Love’s head and shoulders are visible, filling the frame as he turns his head to the right, his eyes fixed on the camera lens. The photograph exploits deep contrasts of light and shade, with a particularly stark difference between parts of the face and shoulder – which show a reflective sheen – and the darkness of the neck and back and top of the head. The photograph is one of several Mapplethorpe produced with Love as the subject. Another of these, taken in the same year as <span>Bob Love</span> and given the same title (Tate AR01140), depicts Love naked upon a pedestal, with his legs spread and his penis on display. Both works demonstrate the artist’s concern to portray the sculptural beauty of the human form. The contrasts of light and shade appear to give the sitter’s body the permanence and lustre of a classical bronze statue.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
26 April 2009 – 27 June 2009
2009-06-27
26 April 2009 – 27 June 2009
2009-06-27
2009-04-26
Inverness Museum & Art Gallery (Inverness, UK)
http://www.invernessmuseum.com
2009-04-26
ARTIST ROOMS 2009: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
19 December 2009 – 27 March 2010
2010-03-27
19 December 2009 – 27 March 2010
2010-03-27
2009-12-19
Graves Art Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/coresite/html/graves.asp
2009-12-19
ARTIST ROOMS 2009: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
25 September 2010 – 21 November 2010
2010-11-21
25 September 2010 – 21 November 2010
2010-11-21
2010-09-25
Towner (Eastbourne, UK)
http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/
2010-09-25
ARTIST ROOMS 2010: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
20 April 2012 – 27 August 2012
2012-08-27
20 April 2012 – 2 September 2012
2012-09-02
2012-04-20
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2012-04-20
Marianne Faithfull and John Dunbar
Collection based display
Bob Love
support: 340 × 341 mm
frame: 612 × 588 × 39 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
<div class="text">
<p>This black and white photograph features the model Bob Love in a close-up, three-quarter profile. The frame is cropped so that only Love’s head and shoulders are visible, filling the frame as he turns his head to the right, his eyes fixed on the camera lens. The photograph exploits deep contrasts of light and shade, with a particularly stark difference between parts of the face and shoulder – which show a reflective sheen – and the darkness of the neck and back and top of the head. The photograph is one of several Mapplethorpe produced with Love as the subject. Another of these, taken in the same year as <i>Bob Love</i> and given the same title (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-bob-love-ar01140" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR01140</span></a>), depicts Love naked upon a pedestal, with his legs spread and his penis on display. Both works demonstrate the artist’s concern to portray the sculptural beauty of the human form. The contrasts of light and shade appear to give the sitter’s body the permanence and lustre of a classical bronze statue.</p>
<p>According to his biographer, Patricia Morrisroe, Mapplethorpe began to photograph black men around 1979 (Morrisroe 1995, p.234). As Morrisroe writes, the artist found that ‘he could extract a greater richness from the colour of their skin’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.234). In particular, the tonal range between the highlights and the shadows was more dramatic. Mapplethorpe’s decision to photograph black men made him more particular about the quality of his photographic prints than he had previously been. Taking a cue from classical sculpture, he expected black skin to approximate the colour of bronze and instructed his printer to selectively darken his pictures accordingly. Mapplethorpe’s desire to photograph black men was partly motivated by sexual fascination.</p>
<p>Mapplethorpe’s photographs of black male nudes – with their emphasis on muscular physiques and physical attributes including the penis – have been criticised for exploiting racial stereotypes and objectifying their models. As the black gay writer and activist Essex Hemphill has commented: ‘it is virtually impossible to view Mapplethorpe’s photos of black males and avoid confronting issues of exploitation and objectification.’ (Quoted in Ellenzweig 1992, p.138.) These accusations have been countered by critics such as Edmund White however, who view the images as reverential representations of the body. Recognising that his work might be interpreted as racist, Mapplethorpe offered his own perspective to David Hershkovits in the <i>Soho Weekly News </i>in May 1981, ‘It has to be racist. I’m white and they are black. There is a difference somehow, but it doesn’t have to be negative. Is there any difference in approaching a black man who doesn’t have clothes on and a white man who doesn’t have clothes on? Not really, it’s form and what you see into that and do with it. I do the same thing. I’m not trying to do it a different way.’ (Quoted in Morrisroe 1995, p.236.)</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Allen Ellenzweig, <i>The Homoerotic Photograph: Male Images from Durieu/Delacroix to Mapplethorpe</i>,<i> </i>New York 1992.<br/>Patricia Morrisroe, <i>Mapplethorpe: A Biography</i>, London 1995.</p>
<p>Matthew Macaulay<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>August 2014</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2016-03-18T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Around 1979 Mapplethorpe began to photograph black men. As his biographer, Patricia Morrisroe, wrote, he found that “he could extract a greater richness from the colour of their skin”, in particular the tonal range between the highlights and the shadows was more dramatic. In this close-up of Bob Love, Mapplethorpe exploits the contrast between the highlights on his shoulder and face and the inky darkness of his neck and the back and top of his head.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults basketball player black body emotions, concepts and ideas equestrian and sporting ethnicity formal qualities head / face individuals: male light Love, Bob man named individuals natural phenomena people photographic portraits work and occupations