Robert Mapplethorpe Lisa Lyon, 1982

Mapplethorpe’s career flourished in the 1980s, as he continued to refine his techniques and formats. As his renown grew, his studio attracted figures from New York’s cultural elite, including David Hockney, Iggy Pop and Grace Jones, whose likenesses he captured in photographic portraits. Six of the photographs on which he collaborated with Lisa Lyon were published in Artforum in 1980, followed by an exhibition of these works in 1983 at Leo Castelli, New York. In 1988, the year before his death, his work was shown in four major institutional exhibitions, organised by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; and National Portrait Gallery, London.