Robert Mapplethorpe: Black Book [Paperback]

Robert Mapplethorpe (Photographer), Ntozake Shange (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 1988

In Black Book, Robert Mapplethorpe presents an astonishing photographic study of black men today. In their diversity, impact, subtlety, technical virtuosity, erotic appeal, and deep humanity, these photographs constitute a stunning celebration of the contemporary black male.

"all my life they've been near me/these men" says Ntozake Shange in her Foreword, "i've been holdin your heart in/my hand since i was a child/cause i wanted what all you were/what all you are/now you're a man."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mapplethorpe wants to photograph everything; that is , everything that can be made to pose. What he looks for, which could be called Form, is the quiddity or isness of something. Not the truth about something, but the strongest version of it...Certain People are, mostly, people found, coaxed, or arranged into a certainty about themselves. That is what seduces, that is what is disclosed in these bulletins of great photographer's observations and encounters." --Susan Sontag

"His eye for a face is the eye of a novelist in search of a character; his eye for a body that of a classical sculptor in search of an 'ideal.' His sitters-whenter celebrities or pick-ups, beautiful girls or his black friends-seem mesmerized not by the lens but by his presence, and they are temporarily transported into a dreamworld." --Bruce Chatwin

"Mapplethorpe's subject matter is portraits, still lifes, nudes and landscapes. His technical ability is flawless and takes the black-and-white photo to its limit, using subtle, but dramatic, lighting to create weighty sculptural forms (even his brunch of moisture-laden Concord grapes, on view, look as if carved from deep-black marble." --The San Francisco Examiner

About the Author

At forty, Robert Mapplethorpe is probably the most talked about photographer in America, and one of the most successful, with over 110 solo and group exhibits in the last seven years, his work in the permanent collections of major museums in this country and abroad, and two successful books to his credit: Lady: Lisa Lyon (1983) and Certain People (1985).

Ntozake Shange is the author of "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, and Betsey Brown.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (July 15, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312021666
• ISBN-13: 978-0312021665
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 11 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,598,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ntozake Shange, poet, novelist, playwright, and performer, wrote the Broadway-produced and Obie Award-winning For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. She has also written numerous works of fiction, including Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo, Betsy Brown, and Liliane.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black Is Beautiful, April 13, 2005

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Book (Hardcover)

Published in 1986, Robert Mapplethorpe's BLACK BOOK remains one of my favorite books of photography. Nothing had been published like it previously; nothing comparable has been published since. The book is devoted entirely to shots of black men, some of them naked, some of them not. There are portraits included here as well-- one of my favorites is the stunning portrait of Roedel Middleton on page 70. Some of the images are outrageously beautiful. Many of the models' bodies take on the quality of polished ebony. The four nude photographs of someone named Ajitto in a classical pose-- as are many of the images-- at the beginning of the book are as beautiful as any you will ever see.

It is common knowledge of course now that some of these photographs have been declared obscene (by the likes of Jesse Helms et al.) and racist by some African Americans.(Some of the black men making these allegations, to paraphrase the black poet Don Lee, talk black but sleep white.) According to a less-than-scientific survey by this Caucasian male, there are about 94 photographs included here, only six of them are of body parts-- and I'm not talking here of feet and hands or even behinds here-- 27 are of male nudes with their genitalia exposed, and only in five of them is the model unnamed. Mapplethorpe may well have been a racist, but I fear his critics may have to look elsewhere for proof. An observation or two: his models appear to be willing subjects as no one is tied up or seems to be shot unawares. Secondly, the nature of the male animal of all colors being what it is, there's a good possibility that people having little to offer may have been unwilling to make the sacrifice of giving the viewer the full monty. The artist obviously loved black men and had many black friends as well as lovers. Finally the poet Ntozake Shange has written a beautiful poem as an introduction to this book. Apparently she had no problem with Mapplethorpe's creative vision.

Many of these photographs will last.

22 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Has a great depiction of the male body as it should be seen., June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Book (Hardcover)

Mapplethorpe, with his great photographic potenial produced a riviting book that dignifies the male, black body to the next zenith. He was able to capture the very essence of what it is to be a male and to be viewed as "God's" art or creation and not a male "pig." This book demonstrates the power of the camera when the beholder knows what he/she is doing. The images in this book do not apal me, afend me nor do they disgust me. I enjoyed reading and flipping through this book as a ligitimate art reviewer and as a academic scholar.

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I Will Purchase This Book, August 22, 2006

By 

Oliver Penn (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Book (Hardcover)

I will buy this book soon as a private tribute to a dear friend of mine, Jeff Gray, who is one of the models in the book. I remember him showing me the photos which Robert Mapplethorpe had taken of him. At the time, he doubted that they would ever be published. I did see the book later, but didn't purchase, but I was impressed.

When Jeff was lying in bed in a hospital in San Francisco, I called to inform him that the book had indeed been published. He was thrilled to know that he had been immortalized, for he was dying of AIDS. Jeff never saw the book and didn't have anything negative to say about Robert, whom I never met. I still own a pair of leather pants and a vest Jeffrey designed and made for me.