Lynda Schorr

The Mapplethorpe Briefs

Prologue            work that is ultimately about no coverup, no censorship, no shameful secrets. Ingrid Sischy, "A Society Artist," catalog for the 1988 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Part One: Dark Secrets

                           My life began in the summer of 1969. Before that I didn't exist.

                                                                           —Robert Mapplethorpe

1          I got that feeling in my stomach. Nothing much happened. Joan understood that mothers weren't supposed to prefer one child over another. The neighborhood was so saturated in nineteen‑fifties conformity. Residents acknowledged Floral Park the "Lost Community." The area had to endure the humiliation of being constantly exposed to its more affluent next‑door neighbor. The first time I went over to Joan's house. Several decades later Joan would seek psychiatric help. Both she and Harry were heavy smokers. I think she was an addictive personality. She called Robert her "skinny willy." Both father and son had extremely poor appetites. He kicked the bedroom door with the heels of his shoes. His father once forced him to eat burned eggs. He thought a church had a certain magic and mystery. Robert didn't take his religion lightly. Whenever I think about Robert. He wasn't handsome like his brother. It was clear Harry favored Richard. Robert and Terry Gray had attended a neighborhood party. The alcohol had unleashed a swarm of furies.

2          Robert was a little too intense. We were the toughguys. I can't go through with it. They bound the pledges' penises with rope. They were told to eat excrement. Pop art was abeled "cool art." We all envied Tom. Poor Bob wanted to fit in so badly. There was a group of these women. Bob told me his parents rejected him. Bob threw a temper tantrum. Mapplethorpe similarly embarrassed himself. One evening, at the Cruz sisters' apartment. Returning home drunk one night. Nothing about him really stands out. She was one good‑looking woman..

3          Robert's transformation was remarkable. We were the hip ones. "You did this without telling me?" asked Harry. "You don't think I'm any good." The studio was soon covered in urine and feces. Whenever I'd see him my heart would sink. "Scratch is dead." Robert had beheaded Scratch with a kitchen knife. Mapplethorpe took his first LSD trip. Everybody was doing so many drugs. Acid­inspired art was becoming so common. He vowed that when he moved to Manhattan, said Rosita. We wanted the power of Satan. Mapplethorpe eventually opted to swallow a tab of acid. "You look like a girl," Harry shouted. "You make me sick." Harry was infuriated by Robert's latest revelation. He wasn't even enrolled in the class. Harry completely freaked out.

4          Eager to be rid of her date. She became pregnant. It was a long railroad apartment. It was difficult to tell where Robert began (and Patti left off). Patti Smith really hated women. When I work, and in my art. I always thought he had an incredibly refined aesthetic. She supplemented her income by failing to ring up purchases. They were both totally enraptured by the idea. She was a mess, a slob. She had once worked as a prostitute.

5          Nineteen sixty‑eight had the vibrations. For Patti, having a boyfriend. He found Smith to be more "far out." "Please don't go," said Robert. I was crazed. "I have to find out if I'm gay once and for all," he said. Even by the standards of the sixties. He flew out to San Francisco. He disappeared the minute he got there. He immediately went home to make a collage. Untalented artist with an edge of darkness. Patti was suicidal. "I was crawling in the grass," Patti said. A neighbor was murdered across the hallway. Then she marched into the office of the manager of the Hotel Chelsea. They made a solemn pact.

Part Two: Patron Saints

She was the first person to open my eyes.

—Robert Mapplethorpe, about Patti Smith

6          Both Robert and Patti came across as stylish. I knew Robert and Patti were brilliant. We talked about every aspect. Max's was the place. 'rhey were a leather version of Sigmunde and Sieglinde. "One of the essential ingredients of Max's," said Ronald Sukenick. Everybody wanted to know. To stretch Smith's salary. He began searching through Times Square bookstores for old copies of gay magazines. "He was too nervous," said Sandy Daley. Robert and Patti played off each other. There was no doubt that Patti was much smarter. Patti always looked bizarre and emaciated. Patti was one of the few women I met ... Robert was living in the weirdest. A series of blood‑curdling screams.

7          Robert and Patti had gone through a lot. Robert was a real Cocteau beauty. The relationship just took off like a rocket. When Robert took pictures. Carroll then wrote a thinly veiled account. Mapplethorpe had been taking LSD. How can I be the devil? "I wish I could be elegant." I think Sam was terribly jealous. "You're twisting me up." It didn't work out. Patti was devastated. A drunken Smith was carried out of Max's. One day she became so exasperated..

8          John turned blue. It was too bizarre for words. John (McKendry) was playing a game of Russian Roulette. "John was fascinated by the forbidden," said Allen Rosenbaum. "I think people were rather horrified," said Maxime de la Falaise. "I thought Robert was rather weird," said Boaz Mazor. "I'm meeting John in Europe at the end of the week." I think Robert felt very at home in England. He had recently begun sporting a swastika pin. Mapplethorpe made the mistake of having sex with McKendry. Robert was one of those people. John believed Robert was a divine creature. Highly talented verbal and visual originals. Mapplethorpe woke up one morning. She was like a creature. John taught Robert about photography. "John was trying to hold it together," said Allen Rosenbaum.

9          Sam was remarkable looking. "it was like I gave them to each other," said David Croland. Wagstaff immediately telephoned Mapplethorpe. "Every girl would swoon," said Dominick Dunne. I've always been visually acclimatized. Sam could be unbearable. What Sam did for Robert. The important thing Sam did in Detroit. Sam was a visionary. Detroit was in the Dark Ages. A victory for manicured grass. I looked at this young man. It was the first time. He wanted me to be. A lot of people had those kinds of offers.

Part Three: Sex and Magic

Love was impossible with him, because the only people he wanted in his life were rich people, famous people, and people he could have sex with.

—Marcus Leatherdale

10        The whole point is to. Once Sam needed ten dollars. A few weeks after Robert moved to Bond Street. His erotic tastes ran to private parties. Mapplethorpe's Polaroids impressed Jones as different. "What the hell is going on here?" said Tennyson Shad. "The kiss of death"—NY Time Magazine. It (photography) was the perfect medium. I thought this photograph. I think Sam had always felt his life. Aside from that ... he had mostly chicken porn. I took a taxi down to this terrible street. He attempted to set up a photo session with Patti Smith. I don't think any collector. Wagstaff had given him fifty thousand dollars. It was a very exciting time for Robert. Visionaries who stumble. Here was this skinny little thing. Maybe a little filth'll. Mapplethorpe and Warhol showed up to photograph Rudolf Nureyev. It was like no other artist.

11        Doped‑up, sexed‑out Marlboro man. The billboard showed a woman. Robert and Sam had come to London. " ...become almost a cliché for sexual ardor." More like one of Michelangelo's slave sculptures. Robert and Patti were so intertwined. Absorption with demonic, romantic excess. A kind of romantic eroticism. John was in his hotel room.. Rather bad Italian. "This is crazy!" said Allen Rosenbaum. "It's just so stupid," said Patti. Robert had much more of a society success. Otherworldly version of amphetarnized beefcake. She seems destined. We're totally committed.

12        Terminal violence. Phenomenal anomaly. Robert and Patti talked about the cover endlessly. On the day of the shoot, Clive Davis did not share Mapplethorpe's enthusiasm. "Performance terrifying in its intensity," says John Rockwell. "Patti Smith Battles to a Singing Victory." Eyes like pinwheels. He's very beautiful. The brilliant aspect of Robert's career. Children are sexual beings. "I never thought the 'dirty pictures'," said Holly Solomon.

13        Mapplethorpe persisted in trying to convice her. Sam was very sweet. Vermeer‑type sidelighting. When you discuss frames. Our boy is the belle of the ball. He was so excited. "I played around with the flowers," said Robert. "I hate flowers," said Holly Solomon. "I am obsessed with beauty," said Robert. "You lucky bastard!" Smith's mind had become even more. "What am I going to say to them?" asked Patti. Complained of feeling down all the time. Afterward he took his parents to lunch. "You know, I'm one of the best," said Harry Mapplethorpe. He later boasted about his son's exhibit,

14        All the great libertines who live. The scene at the Mineshaft. The images don't register. Robert complained a lot about Holly. "I found the work amazingly thrilling," said Robert Miller. "Hey, please don't come to my gallery," said Holly Solomon. Sam loved drugs. Here was this tall, slender. Sam needed a muse. I was a little nervous. Sam had an arrogant confidence. Everyone was speechless. You naive bastard! This book is about pleasure. joy takes many aspects. I had kind of exhausted the S&M thing.

15        "The pictures were remarkably strong," said Simon Lowinsky. He accused Lowinsky of censoring his work. "No say!" It was pretty much a disaster. He was completely starstruck. Nelson's fantasies .. . . The persistent rumor. "Alternately dazzling, uneven, arousing." I had never seen a black leather bedspread. Robert was one of the most tortured.. I remember being at a cocktail party. Robert got

crazy. I was so devastated. Robert was working very hard. For years the male nude. Everybody showed up. Robert always walked the line. Everything about this show is hostile. A street kid who figures he can make a lot of money. It wasn't like we hadn't seen her naked. Patti was absolutely brutal.

Part Four: Blacks and Whites

Once you go black, you can never go back.

                                              —Robert Mapplethorpe

16        Robert worried that Patti hadn't been strong enough. Sam once told me the only reason. Ultimately she would be diagnosed as having man ic‑ depression. Mapplethorpe worried that he wouldn't be able to contribute. For one thing, the texture. Robert's eyes just blazed. He eventually began to photograph his black models. "My lifestyle is bizarre," he said. If Robert spent the night with someone. "Don't you care about getting diseases?"

17        He looked in the window. Bond Street's eerie atmosphere. Moore later claimed.. Embarrassed by his generous proportions. He would lapse into a trance­like state. He encouraged Moore. "Mapplethorpe's eye pays special attention to the penis." Main picture here is a big black dude. We drove directly to the beach. Robert kept complaining. Mapplethorpe seemed incapable. Robert kept very bad records. He'd come in around five p.m. I'm doing everything for you. Moore grabbed a kitchen knife. "My God, where have you been?" I was stunned. Milton was jumping out the window. Mapplethorpe made one last effort. We never really had.

18   Robert was absolutely grief‑stricken. I'm not interested in being. Jack suddenly disappeared. We had to have sex. I think I'm in love.. I don't particularly care. Robert didn't say a word. The last thing I need. Light effects that have the visual equivalents. I don't know why my pictures. Robert was really afraid. With the money he made. Robert was in a panic. "You know, faggots are . . ." said Jim Clyne. You could not ride the subway. Robert would hang up the phone. He tortured. Robert said he wanted. How could you do this to me?

19        In the beginning we would. Robert was very Catholic. It was a nightmare. I wanted one. They're black. The place was more like a beach shack. I know where you're going.

20        New York squalor. Don't get any ideas. It wasn't like I had anything, Suzie was passionately. The whole thing was just hideous. Robert was like a drug. I remember being so frightened. Well, you know, as you get older. Robert was just getting sicker. You heard me. "Well, I've got it," he said.

Part Five: The Perfect Moment

You know what they say about Robert Mapplethorpe . . .

Here today, here tomorrow.

—Sam Green

21        Patti Smith was in the kitchen. How's Robert doing? When she heard about Mapplethorpe .... She then disappeared into the bathroom. That relationship had ended. Mapplethorpe took a cab. We didn't talk about photography. Mapplethorpe's eye immediately noticed.

22        We stayed at this funky little motel. Robert was really running away. One man screamed at him. I asked myself several times. If you give him too much. His hands suddenly began to tremble. "It's not what I wanted."

23        I don't think it's impossible. AIDS had a terrific influence. The weird part about it. He toyed with the idea of making them as large. I just hope I can live. Mapplethorpe hated going to Sloan Kettering. "It's got me." I couldn't take a bloody penis. Robert had always loved Amsterdam. He was like a rock star. Certainly no photographer of recent times. Alex destroyed the film. We did them in editions. Robert knew he had the power. He handled the illness with dignity. It was one of the worst times. Well, I guess Mom and Dad. It's AIDS, isn't it? Listen, M a. I was never so uncomfortable. All through Robert's illness.

24        Mapplethorpe captures. You know what they say. I found the whole experience. Mapplethorpe mania has arrived. It doesn't take a genius. Mapplethorpe had ridden a cultural curve. Robert was lyrically selfish. When Robert Rauschenberg. "I don't care if I die." "Didn't you hear?" The really offensive ones. A few days after Thanksgiving. You're nothing but a hustler. One afternoon a nurse presented him. "Please ... don't let them hurt me." His body was being. He had the same look.

25        He reached out to take his hand. This is going to happen. He was too weak. I had three great loves. Robert was in this little bag. For private reasons. "Oh, Robert."