Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Robert Mapplethorpe Photographer

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Nov 4, 1946
  • Died: Mar 9, 1989

Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his sometimes controversial large-scale, highly stylized black and white photography. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits and still-life images of flowers. His most controversial work is that of the underground bondage and sadomasochistic BDSM scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s of New York. The homoeroticism of this work fuelled a national debate over the public funding of controversial artwork.

I would never have done what I'd done if I'd considered my father as somebody I wanted to please.

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

Happiness? No, it's not there for me.

If I have to change my lifestyle, I don't want to live.

People don't have time to wait for somebody to paint their portraits anymore. The money is in photography.

My father wants me to be like my brother, but I can't be.

When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.

I just hope I can live long enough to see the fame.

To make pictures big is to make them more powerful.

This AIDS stuff is pretty scary. I hope I don't get it.