mapplethorpe flora: the complete flowers

The definitive collection of Robert Mapplethorpe’s flower photographs in a sophisticated new edition

Robert Mapplethorpe is one of the twentieth century’s most important artists, known for his ground-breaking and provocative work. He studied painting, drawing, and sculpture in Brooklyn in the 1960s and started taking photographs when he acquired a Polaroid camera, in 1970. Beginning in 1973 and until his death in 1989, Mapplethorpe explored the flower with extraordinary dedication, using a range of photographic processes - from Polaroids to dye-transfer color works.

In carefully constructed compositions, he captured roses, orchids, snapdragons, daisies, tulips and other species - both common and rare - and forever transformed the way we perceive a classic and familiar subject. The result - a stunning body of work - is collected in this elegant book, with a foreword by Mapplethorpe’s close friend Dimitri Levas and an introduction by Herbert Muschamp.

Mark Holborn is an editor and designer of books, as well as a writer, who has worked internationally with many leading artists and photographers. He collaborated with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation on the original, definitive volumes of Mapplethorpe’s work twenty-five years ago. He lives in England.

Dimitri Levas is a New York-based art director, whose career has spanned book design, magazine layout, set design and prop styling. He worked closely with Robert Mapplethorpe over the years, and with the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation on numerous publications.

Herbert Muschamp (1947-2007) was a New York Times writer and one of the most influential architecture critics of his generation.