Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Portraits
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
ARTIST ROOMS
National Heritage Memorial Fund
Art Fund
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<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>
Iggy Pop
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
arts and entertainment
body
emotions and human qualities
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
head / face
individuals: male
man
mouth
musician
named individuals
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photographic
Pop, Iggy
portraits
shock
singer
work and occupations
<p>This black and white photograph is a portrait of Iggy Pop, the American musician and actor often referred to as the ‘Godfather of Punk’. The tight cropping of the photograph ensures only Pop’s head and bare shoulders are visible against a plain grey background. Pop faces the camera with wide open eyes and an apparently gasping mouth revealing his crooked lower teeth. His short, dark, tousled hair frames his face and neck.</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
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
10 November 2012 – 27 April 2013
2013-04-27
10 November 2012 – 27 April 2013
2013-04-27
2012-11-10
Perth Museum & Art Gallery (Perth, UK)
http://www.pkc.gov.uk/
2012-11-10
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour
Loan-out
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
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
Iggy Pop
support: 640 × 641 mm
frame: 612 × 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
<div class="text">
<p>This black and white photograph is a portrait of Iggy Pop, the American musician and actor often referred to as the ‘Godfather of Punk’. The tight cropping of the photograph ensures only Pop’s head and bare shoulders are visible against a plain grey background. Pop faces the camera with wide open eyes and an apparently gasping mouth revealing his crooked lower teeth. His short, dark, tousled hair frames his face and neck.</p>
<p>This portrait was taken when Pop was thirty-four years old, during which time he was struggling as a solo artist and suffered from persistent drug problems. The musician was known for his drug taking and for his unpredictable behaviour. In this image Mapplethorpe appears to capture Pop’s intense energy, photographing a moment of alertness, or in the words of Mapplethorpe’s biographer Patricia Morrisroe, a ‘live-for-the-moment immediacy’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.267).</p>
<p>Morrisroe noted that Mapplethorpe experimented with various drugs and was a habitual cocaine user, often taking it while working and offering it to his sitters. As such the wide-eyed cocaine induced stare became a characteristic of Mapplethorpe’s portraits, and while drug taking may not have been involved in all cases, the photographer seemed to strive for this effect. Indeed in 1977 the magazine <i>ARTnews </i>praised Mapplethorpe for his ability to create ‘light effects that are the visual equivalents of certain psychological states induced by cocaine’ (cited in Morrisroe 1995, p.267). It is not known whether cocaine was taken by Pop during the shoot for this portrait, although considering his relationship with drugs at the time and the animated expression he wears, it is a possibility.</p>
<p>Portraits form a substantial part of Mapplethorpe’s oeuvre and they often follow a similar format, consisting of a close up against a plain background. Referring to an interview between Mapplethorpe and the writer Susan Sontag, literary critic Richard Howard noted that the photographer tried to find ‘that part of the subject which is self confident’, which is by no means ‘a part of which the subject is readily conscious’ (Howard 1988, p.156). Knowing that Iggy Pop was struggling with his career and his drug habits, this portrait, which depicts Pop in a startled and somewhat apprehensive state, could be said to reflect the psychological turmoil that the musician was suffering from at the time.</p>
<p>Robert Miller, a New York art dealer who represented Mapplethorpe, has remarked upon this particular portrait: ‘Every time I look at it I’m moved, and I guess alerted to the human condition. Well, I’m not going to say what that condition is but ... it sends out a signal of alertness to me; pay attention, time’s going by.’ (Cited in <i>Arena: Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, 18 March 1988.)</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Richard Howard, ‘The Mapplethorpe Effect’, in Richard Marshall (ed.), <i>Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, London 1988.<br/>
<i>Arena: Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, dir. by Nigel Finch, BBC television documentary, 18 March 1988.<br/>Patricia Morrisroe, <i>Mapplethorpe. A Biography</i>,<i> </i>London 1995.</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
2014-06-13T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>Iggy Pop, “The Godfather of Punk”, was a highly influential American rock singer and occasional actor. He was known for his raw physical energy on stage and also for his drugs problem. In this photograph Mapplethorpe captures this crazed energy (drug induced?), as Iggy Pop stares at the camera with eyes wide open and mouth seemingly about to speak or sing.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
adults arts and entertainment body emotions and human qualities emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities head / face individuals: male man mouth musician named individuals people photographic Pop, Iggy portraits shock singer work and occupations