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>
Patti Smith
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
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
arts and entertainment
crouching
domestic
features
female
heating and lighting
individuals: female
interior - non-specific
interiors
musician
named individuals
nudes
objects
people
portraits
radiator
singer
Smith, Patti
window
woman
work and occupations
<p>In this black and white portrait photograph the singer-songwriter Patti Smith sits naked on a wooden floor in a crouched position, her legs folded so that her knees are tight against her chest while her hands grip the radiator pipes in front of her. Smith’s body is in profile facing towards a window above the pipes, but her head is turned towards the camera. Her short dark hair frames her face and is slightly tousled. She is positioned slightly off centre, sitting to the left of the image. She occupies what appears to be an empty room with painted white brick walls, wooden floors and a radiator which extends from where she is sitting to the adjacent wall in the background. A series of horizontal lines – including the radiator pipes, the flooring and the brick work – are contrasted by the vertical lines of the pipes rising from the radiator and the vertical wooden frame of the window. The singer’s limbs and torso mirror these vertical and horizontal lines, while also introducing some soft diagonals to the composition. Light comes in through the windows creating illuminated surfaces on the left side of her slim body, while casting shadows on the right side of her face, flanks and slightly hunched back.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
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
1 March 2012 – 8 July 2012
2012-07-08
1 March 2012 – 8 July 2012
2012-07-08
2012-03-01
Burgh Hall (Dunoon, UK)
2012-03-01
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour
Loan-out
20 July 2012 – 28 October 2012
2012-10-28
20 July 2012 – 28 October 2012
2012-10-28
2012-07-20
Linlithgow Burgh Halls (Linlithgow, UK)
2012-07-20
ARTIST ROOMS 2012: Mapplethorpe Scottish Tour
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
11 May 2013 – 11 August 2013
2013-08-11
11 May 2013 – 11 August 2013
2013-08-11
2013-05-11
Old Gala House (Galashiels, UK)
2013-05-11
ARTIST ROOMS 2013: 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
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
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
15 December 2018 – 23 March 2019
2019-03-23
15 December 2018 – 23 March 2019
2019-03-23
2018-12-15
Atkinson Art Gallery (Southport, UK)
2018-12-15
ARTIST ROOMS 2018: Robert Mapplethorpe
Loan-out
Patti Smith
support: 340 × 341 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>In this black and white portrait photograph the singer-songwriter Patti Smith sits naked on a wooden floor in a crouched position, her legs folded so that her knees are tight against her chest while her hands grip the radiator pipes in front of her. Smith’s body is in profile facing towards a window above the pipes, but her head is turned towards the camera. Her short dark hair frames her face and is slightly tousled. She is positioned slightly off centre, sitting to the left of the image. She occupies what appears to be an empty room with painted white brick walls, wooden floors and a radiator which extends from where she is sitting to the adjacent wall in the background. A series of horizontal lines – including the radiator pipes, the flooring and the brick work – are contrasted by the vertical lines of the pipes rising from the radiator and the vertical wooden frame of the window. The singer’s limbs and torso mirror these vertical and horizontal lines, while also introducing some soft diagonals to the composition. Light comes in through the windows creating illuminated surfaces on the left side of her slim body, while casting shadows on the right side of her face, flanks and slightly hunched back.</p>
<p>Mapplethorpe took this photograph in autumn 1976 in his loft apartment on Bond Street, New York City. He had been given the money to buy this loft by art collector and curator Sam Wagstaff, who was Mapplethorpe’s lover and mentor until Wagstaff’s death in 1987. Bond Street was a cobblestone side street with warehouses and garages that artists chose to occupy. The painter Brice Marden worked next door to Mapplethorpe, and the musician John Lennon and artist Yoko Ono lived nearby. Smith, who was a lifelong friend of Mapplethorpe’s, moved in with the photographer in 1976 when the lease on her own apartment expired. The pair had lived together on many occasions including a stint at the Chelsea Hotel, a New York landmark famous for its notable residents, including the singers Leonard Cohen and Janis Joplin and the writer and poet Dylan Thomas.</p>
<p>This photograph is one of many portraits of Smith that Mapplethorpe took during their lifelong friendship (see also 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-patti-smith-ar00495" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00495</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mapplethorpe-patti-smith-ar00185" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00185</span></a>). Indeed, apart from his self-portraits, Smith was Mapplethorpe’s most photographed subject. Writer Ingrid Sischy has discussed Mapplethorpe’s portraits of Smith: ‘Because these photographs capture different periods in her life they come to stand for time.’ (Sischy 1988, p.83.) Mapplethorpe’s biographer, Patricia Morrisroe, has confirmed this idea, noting that at the time this photograph was taken Smith was struggling to match the success of her first album <i>Horses</i>, and that she was unhappy in her relationship with musician Allen Lanier. Morrisroe states that in this particular portrait Smith resembles a ‘baby bird emerging from a cracked shell’, and that Mapplethorpe captured the singers ‘precarious state of mind’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.174).</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Ingrid Sischy, ‘A Society Artist’ in Richard Marshall (ed.), <i>Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, London 1988, p.83.<br/>Patricia Morrisroe, <i>Mapplethorpe, A Biography</i>,<i> </i>London 1995, p.174.</p>
<p>Susan Mc Ateer<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>February 2013</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS</i>.</p>
</div>

Summary
2013-07-05T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>This is one of Mapplethorpe’s most carefully structured images. Patti Smith, the American singer-songwriter and Mapplethorpe had lived together in the late 1960s and remained close friends after they parted. In this photo Smith is posing nude in a hunched-up, seated position, so that her body becomes the centre of a network of vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines.</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults architecture arts and entertainment crouching domestic features female heating and lighting individuals: female interior - non-specific interiors musician named individuals nudes objects people portraits radiator singer Smith, Patti window woman work and occupations