Some Women, Miniature Ed. (Miniature Edition) [Paperback]

Joan Didion (Adapter), Robert Mapplethorpe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995 | Series: Miniature Edition

"Some Women" is Robert Mapplethorpe's breathtakingly elegant homage to female beauty. One of the most controversial and, ultimately, canonized photographers of our time, Mapplethorpe died in March 1989, at the peak of his critical acclaim. This collection was among the last projects that he undertook and includes a retrospective of his portraits of women, the majority of which have never been published in book form.

"Some Women" explores female beauty in many incarnations, beauty both idealized and externalized. It brings together eighty-six of Mapplethorpe's finest images - a balance of his luminous nudes, fashion shots, and portraits. The women included come from every age group and rnge from the unfamiliar to the notable. Isabella Rossellini, Grace Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Yoko Ono, Brooke Shields, Cyndi Lauper, Melanie Griffith, Susan Sarandon, and Mapplethorpe's close friend Patti Smith are among the numerous celebrities who participated. Equally arresting are the lesser known: fellow artists, friends, favorite models, and children. "Some Women" reveals the full extent of Mapplethorpe's mastery of black-and-white photography and his gift as a portraitist.

In her introduction, Joan Didion probes the relationship between the artist and his subject, observing that "there was always about Robert Mapplethorpe an astonishing convergence of quite traditional romantic impulses There was the romance of the apparently conventional. There was the romance of art for its own sake" "Some Women" is the work of an assured photographer. It is an essential part of Robert Mapplethorpe's legacy.

Robert Mapplethorpe was born in New York in 1946 and received a B.F.A. from the PrattInstitute in 1970; he died in March 1989. His portraits, self-portraits, and photographs of nudes, sculptured objects, flowers, and still lifes have had an undeniable impact on the art world. In 1988 he achieved the greatest recognition of any photographer of the past decade in two major independent retrospectives: at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia.

Mapplethorpe's photographs have appeared in nearly two hundred solo and group exhibitions and hang in major collections worldwide. His publications include "Lady: Lisa Lyon" (1983) "Certain People" (1985) "Black Book" (1986) "Robert Mapplethorpe" (1988)and "Flowers" (1990)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eighty-five black-and-white photographs of women, mostly famous--actresses, singers, artists, models--constitute this large-format book, which, compared with much of the late photographer's oeuvre, is tame and unambitious. Didion's introduction considers the viewpoints and goals of photographer and subject, discusses Mapplethorpe's use of symmetry and his manner of "imposing classical form on unthinkable images." When Mapplethorpe ( Certain People ) exaggerates the body's sculptural qualities, objectifying his models to an extreme, seen here only in shots of the non-famous, the result is more interesting than the bulk of this portfolio. Included are portraits of such notables as Sonia Braga, Fawn Hall, Grace Jones, Louise Nevelson, Yoko Ono, Isabella Rossellini, Sigourney Weaver.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 115 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch Press (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821221973
• ISBN-13: 978-0821221976
• Product Dimensions: 4.7 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,778,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some Women, October 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Some Women (Perfect Paperback)

Though controversial and best known for his erotic photography of male nudes, Some Women shows the depth and resounding mastery of Mapplethorpe's creativity and artistic talent. This is a compilation of B&W photographs of women of all ages: children through seniors. Some are fashion models, nude torsos, others unknown friends, some famous actresses (including: Sigourney Weaver, Susan Sarandon, Melanie Griffith, Dianne Weist, Grace Jones and Kathleen Turner to name a few.) Each photographic plate is resoundly crafted and displayed highlighting the complex and compelling beauty of women.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gorgeous, March 14, 2010

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Some Women (Perfect Paperback)

Not just the women themselves, but the renderings of them. This collection offers many view of what a woman is: young, in her prime, or aging; clothed or nude; even carrying new life within her. These hard-edged black and white images carry the soft curves of well- and un-known women beautifully.

My only reservation comes from some of the pictures of children. Jock Sturges's photos of naturist families show people of every age, happy and at ease in their undress. Mapplethorpe's unclad children distinctly lack that sense of ease - even small children know what they are comfortable with and, in at least a few cases, their comfort seems not to have been taken into account.

Except for that one troubling note, I find this one of the most captivating collections of figure and portrait photography I've seen.

- wiredwierd

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Far from Mapplethorpe's Best, April 24, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 110,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Some Women (Perfect Paperback)

I was disappointed by the 86 images of nudes, fashion shots, and portraits in this book. Although they are technically wonderful, well-lit, and beautiful, they lack a good grasp of the inner reality of the subjects. The contrast between this book and his remarkable work in Lady: Lisa Lyon and Flowers could not have been greater.

This book contains modest nudity of the sort that would require an R rating for a motion picture. None of the challenging images that made Mr. Mapplethorpe famous are present here.

In the annotation by Joan Dideon, Mr. Mapplethorpe is quoted as saying "You don't know why it's happening, but it's happening." Too little was happening in most of these images. The exceptions were the girls, who clearly expressed their personalities in an unguarded way. Most of the models are "well known, figures of considerable celebrity or fashion or achievement." As such, "they are professional women, performers before the camera." I think that as such, they were able to show just what they wished to reveal about themselves. So you get a mask, rather than a person. Mr. Mapplethorpe says about himself that his work is "very symmetrical." I agree, and while that works well with his flower portraits (in Flowers) that symmetry just seems a little dull here to me. Ms. Dideon also points out that "the idealization here is never of the present." Certainly, you will see that he is inspired by classical Greek and Roman ideas of female beauty.

Here are my favorites: Lydia Cheng, 1985; Sonia Resika, 1988 (p. 18); Brit Hammer, 1988; Lara Harris, 1987 (p. 27); Isabella Rossellini, 1988 (p. 33); Caroline Herrera, 1988; Alexandra Ellis, 1988; Blake Finkelson, 1988; Eva Amurri, 1988 (p. 58); Susan Sarandon and Eva Amurri, 1988; Brooke Shields, 1988 (p. 73); Stella Goodall, 1984; Diandre Douglas, 1988; and Dolphine Neil-Jones, 1987.

As you can see the timing of these images is very similar, so you get a compressed sense of female beauty reflecting a moment in history. In a way, it's like a candid snapshot of beauty, rather than a cultural panorama.

After you finish this book, think about another thing Mr. Mapplethorpe said, "I'm looking for the unexpected." Where can you find and use the unexpected to expand your vision?

Stretch to the limits of imagination, rather than being bound by the vanity of the ego.