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>
Eva Amurri
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: expressive
actions: processes and functions
animal
carrying / holding
children
clothing and personal items
collar
emotions, concepts and ideas
formal qualities
girl
hat
individuals: female
named individuals
objects
people
photographic
portraits
Sarandon, Eve
smiling
soft toy
toys and models
<p>This black and white photograph shows a young girl holding a stuffed toy rabbit. Set before a black background, the girl is smiling slightly. She is clothed in a dark dress with a white lace collar, and wears a black hat. Her hair is arranged in plaited pigtails with spotted ribbons at the end of each braid. Only her left hand is visible, and it is this hand that holds the toy rabbit. Her hand and face are bright – almost white – and stand in contrast to the black and dark grey shades that comprise the majority of the photograph. The subject of the image is Eva Amurri, the daughter of Italian film director Franco Amurri and the American actress Susan Sarandon.</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 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
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
Eva Amurri
support: 476 × 471 mm
frame: 816 × 784 × 30 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 shows a young girl holding a stuffed toy rabbit. Set before a black background, the girl is smiling slightly. She is clothed in a dark dress with a white lace collar, and wears a black hat. Her hair is arranged in plaited pigtails with spotted ribbons at the end of each braid. Only her left hand is visible, and it is this hand that holds the toy rabbit. Her hand and face are bright – almost white – and stand in contrast to the black and dark grey shades that comprise the majority of the photograph. The subject of the image is Eva Amurri, the daughter of Italian film director Franco Amurri and the American actress Susan Sarandon.</p>
<p>Mapplethorpe made this portrait along with six others in 1988 to accompany an interview he gave for <i>Vanity Fair</i>. Around this time Mapplethorpe was receiving little publicity and was therefore looking for outlets for his work, as his biographer Patricia Morrisroe notes (Morrisroe 1995, p.351). He was also seriously ill with AIDS, which he had learned he had contracted in 1986. Morrisroe writes that Mapplethorpe ‘needed something to look forward to’ (Morrisroe 1995, p.351). The <i>Vanity Fair</i> article, entitled ‘Robert Mapplethorpe’s Long Good-Bye’, was published in January 1988, and the artist’s health, rather than his work, was very much the focus of the piece.</p>
<p>
<i>Eva Amurri </i>shows its subject looking hopeful and happy. With her stuffed rabbit toy and joyful eyes, there is a sense of innocence in the sitter, highlighted by the contrast drawn between the heavy black of the dress and background and the sitter’s bright complexion. In contrast to the hopeful outlook of this photograph, the subject of death appears to have been prominent in Mapplethorpe’s mind at this time as his health deteriorated. In the same year he also made several photographs incorporating distinctly morbid motifs: Skull (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-skull-ar00223" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00223</span></a>) is a photograph of a human skull, while Self Portrait (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-self-portrait-ar00496" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00496</span></a>) shows Mapplethorpe holding a cane with a model skull fixed to its top. As stated by the art historian Germano Celant, ‘The portent of these photographs is chilling’ (Celant 1992, p.63). Yet, Celant continued, in these works Mapplethorpe ‘refuses to be affected by fear or weakness, he remains interested in the experience of this new transformation’ (Celant 1992, p.64). <i>Eva Amurri </i>is perhaps an extension of Mapplethorpe’s desire to examine the subject of death; it suggests a keenness to document the cycle of existence and to explore the beginning of life as well as its end.</p>
<p>Mapplethorpe took another photograph of Eva Amurri in 1988 in which the sitter appears nude (see Eva Amurri 1988, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), as well as a photograph of Eva and her mother, also taken in 1988, entitled Eva Amurri and Susan Sarandon (reproduced in Joan Didion, <i>Some Women: Robert Mapplethorpe</i>, London 1989, p.61). His photographs Honey 1976 (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-honey-ar00157" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00157</span></a>) and Lindsay Key 1985 (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-lindsay-key-ar00158" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00158</span></a>) are further examples of work in which children feature as photographic subjects. In the same vein as Eva Amurri, many of these photographs portray their subjects with a vivacious, animated quality. These works stand in contrast to much of Mapplethorpe’s other photography – images such as Derrick Cross 1983 (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-derrick-cross-ar00194" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>AR00194</span></a>) – in which the adult male form is depicted in an eroticised, sculptural manner.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Richard Marshall, <i>Robert Mapplethorpe</i>,<i> </i>London 1988.<br/>Germano Celant, <i>Mapplethorpe</i>,<i> </i>New York 1992, p.64.<br/>Patricia Morrisroe, <i>Mapplethorpe: A Biography</i>,<i> </i>London 1995, pp.351–62.</p>
<p>Thomas Flanagan<br/>The University of Edinburgh<br/>May 2015</p>
<p>
<i>The University of Edinburgh is a research partner of ARTIST ROOMS.</i>
</p>
</div>

Summary
2017-05-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>This photograph is of Eva, the daughter of American actress Susan Sarandon. Although somberly dressed in black, clutching her toy rabbit, a delicate lace collar frames her face and she has a soft smile on her face, her eyes glistening. Although it was taken at a time when Robert Mapplethorpe was desperately ill from AIDS and had only a few months to live, it is an image of innocence and of bright hope for the future</p>

Online caption
2009-04-16T00:00:00
online-caption
ONLINE_CAPTION
actions: expressive actions: processes and functions animal carrying / holding children clothing and personal items collar emotions, concepts and ideas formal qualities girl hat individuals: female named individuals objects people photographic portraits Sarandon, Eve smiling soft toy toys and models