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>
Nick
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
body
clothing and personal items
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
individuals: male
jacket
man
named individuals
Nick
objects
people
photographic
portraits
scientific and measuring
tattoo
watch
<p>This black and white photograph is a portrait of Nick Bienes, who Robert Mapplethorpe met in 1977. Bienes sits in three-quarter profile with his head turned to face the camera. He is topless but holds his studded leather jacket, which is slung over his left shoulder, with clasped hands. The top of his leather trousers and a metallic belt can be seen at the bottom edge of the image. Bienes wears a strong yet sullen expression and boasts a dark, trimmed beard and two visible tattoos: a flaming skull on his forehead and a profile head and neck of a man wearing a leather cap on his left bicep. He casts a shadow on the white wall behind him that emphasises his square jaw.</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
9 May 2014 – 26 October 2014
2014-10-26
9 May 2016 – 26 October 2016
2016-10-26
2016-05-09
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2014-05-09
Mapplethorpe Self Portraits and Portraits
Collection based display
8 August 2015 – 7 November 2015
2015-11-07
8 August 2015 – 7 November 2015
2015-11-07
2015-08-08
Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Aberystwyth, UK)
2015-08-08
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
28 November 2015 – 26 April 2016
2016-04-26
28 November 2015 – 26 April 2016
2016-04-26
2015-11-28
Bowes Museum (Barnard Castle, UK)
http://www.bowesmuseum.org.uk
2015-11-28
ARTIST ROOMS 2015: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
Nick
support: 341 × 342 mm
frame: 612 × 587 × 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
<div class="text">
<p>This black and white photograph is a portrait of Nick Bienes, who Robert Mapplethorpe met in 1977. Bienes sits in three-quarter profile with his head turned to face the camera. He is topless but holds his studded leather jacket, which is slung over his left shoulder, with clasped hands. The top of his leather trousers and a metallic belt can be seen at the bottom edge of the image. Bienes wears a strong yet sullen expression and boasts a dark, trimmed beard and two visible tattoos: a flaming skull on his forehead and a profile head and neck of a man wearing a leather cap on his left bicep. He casts a shadow on the white wall behind him that emphasises his square jaw. </p>
<p>This portrait was taken in the same year that Mapplethorpe met Bienes at an S&amp;M nightclub in New York called Mineshaft. At this time Mapplethorpe was particularly interested in taking photographs of sadomasochistic sexual practices and the individuals who practised them. However, his images of this period were considered relatively tame in S&amp;M circles, and Bienes referred to them as being an ‘artsified version of S&amp;M. They’re not like photographs snapped during an actual scene’ (Bienes cited in Morrisroe 1995, p.191). Mapplethorpe took many portraits of Bienes.</p>
<p>The tattoo on Bienes’s bicep closely resembles an illustration by Tom of Finland, a Finnish artist whose real name was Touko Laaksonen. Tom of Finland had a huge influence on gay visual culture in the second half of the twentieth century with his homoerotic and pornographic illustrations, many of which featured leather clad men. It is not certain whether Bienes copied a specific illustration for his tattoo, but considering the widespread circulation of Tom of Finland’s work at the time it is highly likely that Bienes was at least inspired by these images. </p>
<p>Mapplethorpe was gay and actively engaged in the S&amp;M scene himself during the mid to late 1970s. He frequented many gay bars and clubs in the Meatpacking district of New York City including the Mineshaft, which was considered the ‘definitive S&amp;M club’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.189). Art critic and philosopher Arthur Danto has described the ‘leather look, the peaked cap, the flaunted biceps’ which Bienes displays in this portrait as strategies of ‘attractiveness and self-definition’ within the gay community as a means of distancing themselves from the connotations of effeminacy often associated with gay men (Danto 1996, p.97). Mapplethorpe took portraits of many other members of the S&amp;M New York scene including Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter (see Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/AR00196" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'AR00196');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>AR00196</span></a>). </p>
<p>This portrait of Bienes appeared in <i>Certain People</i>,<i> </i>a photobook published in 1985 with an essay by the cultural critic Susan Sontag. For this book Mapplethorpe included portraits of individuals from the two social spectrums of New York with which he was engaged, that of ‘New York squalor’ and ‘New York glamour’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.297). As such it featured portraits of the wealthy who belonged to the art world or high society, such as Doris Saatchi and Francesca Thyssen (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/AR00156" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'AR00156');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>AR00156</span></a>), as well as celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/AR00213" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'AR00213');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>AR00213</span></a>), alongside portraits of strippers and porn dealers. </p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b> <br/>Robert Mapplethorpe: <i>Certain People</i>,<i> </i>Santa Fe 1985. <br/>Patricia Morrisroe, <i>Mapplethorpe. A </i>Biography<i>, </i>London 1995. <br/>Arthur Coleman Danto, <i>Playing With the Edge: The Photographic Achievement of Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, Berkeley and London 1996. </p>
<p>Susan Mc Ateer <br/>University of Edinburgh <br/>June 2013 </p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS</i>. </p>
</div>

Summary
2021-07-13T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Nick looks every inch the hard, leather-clad macho guy of the New York gay S&amp;M scene – studs on his jacket, belt and wristband, tattoos on his arm and forehead (a flaming skull) and a well-trimmed beard. Yet his hands are clasped together as if in prayer.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults body clothing and personal items emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities individuals: male jacket man named individuals Nick objects people photographic portraits scientific and measuring tattoo watch