What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Reviews
Product Description
Yale-educated and born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Sam Wagstaff s transformation from innovative museum curator to Robert Mapplethorpe s lover and patron is intensively probed in Black White & Gray. During the heady years of the 1970s and 1980s, the New York City art scene was abuzz with a new spirit, and Mapplethorpe would be at the center of it. Wagstaff pulled him from his suburban Queens existence, gave him a camera and brought him into this art world that seemed to be waiting for him, creating the man whose infamous images instilled emotions ranging from awe to anger. In turn, Mapplethorpe brought the formerly starched-shirt preppie to the world of drugs and gay S-and-M sex, well documented in his still-startling photographs. Twenty-five years separated the lovers, but their relationship was symbiotic to its core, and the two remained together forever. The film also explores the relationship both men had with musician/poet Patti Smith, whose 1975 debut album Horses catapulted her to fame. Wagstaff s story is one of personal transformation from conservative, starchy, Yale-educated preppy to downtown habitué, hipster and experimenter. Both he and Mapplethorpe enabled each other to discover different parts of themselves both men encouraged the other to mine new territory in the arts and in their personal lives as well. Wagstaff s death from AIDS, in 1987, and later Mapplethorpe s, in 1989, marked the end of an era. Black White & Gray reveals the powerful troika these two men formed with Patti Smith, and the influence their collective work continues to have over present-day art and culture.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By stylepuppy
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Amazon Verified Purchase
These days we're quite used to hearing about some squeaky-clean celebrity's hidden prurient lifestyle. However, Robert Mapplethorpe never hid his S&M lifestyle, he used it as the subject of much of his work, and so it's wonderfully ironic to discover that Mapplethorpe's 'hidden' past was in a long term relationship with a Yale-educated, ex-Madison Ave, uptown man like Sam Wagstaff.
This excellent documentary focusses primarily on Wagstaff's significant legacy to the Art world and tries to reclaim his place as one of the most important collector/curators of his time. Aided and encouraged by Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith, Wagstaff started collecting photographs long before the major art institutions took the form seriously and became pivotal in changing attitudes towards vernacular photography.
Although Wagstaff appears to have lived a double-life, moneyed socialite by day and S&M acolyte by night, the film never delves too deeply into the S&M underworld he and Mapplethorpe knew. Admittedly it's probably unnecessary to document that side of their relationship since Mapplethorpe did it so well already but it's an interesting dichotomy that goes slightly under-explored. Nonetheless, the film's a fascinating and unexpected insight into a life and time some of us might have thought we already knew.
This excellent documentary focusses primarily on Wagstaff's significant legacy to the Art world and tries to reclaim his place as one of the most important collector/curators of his time. Aided and encouraged by Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith, Wagstaff started collecting photographs long before the major art institutions took the form seriously and became pivotal in changing attitudes towards vernacular photography.
Although Wagstaff appears to have lived a double-life, moneyed socialite by day and S&M acolyte by night, the film never delves too deeply into the S&M underworld he and Mapplethorpe knew. Admittedly it's probably unnecessary to document that side of their relationship since Mapplethorpe did it so well already but it's an interesting dichotomy that goes slightly under-explored. Nonetheless, the film's a fascinating and unexpected insight into a life and time some of us might have thought we already knew.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
