Mapplethorpe photos explore classical art.

• Position: Museums Today - Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition: Photographs and Mannerist Prints - Brief Article - Critical Essay

THE EXHIBITION "Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition: Photographs and Mannerist Prints" explores the relationship between the photographer and classical art, in particular, 16th-century Flemish Mannerist engravings.

An international movement and style that spread to France and Northern Europe, Mannerism developed with roots in Italian art, specifically that of Raphael. Referred to as "the stylish style," it is characterized by compositional, emotional, and narrative elements that shift away from the median of harmony and equilibrium embodied by the art of the High Renaissance. A number of Mannerist works will be paired with photographs by Mapplethorpe. A small selection of sculptures--illustrating his interest in and passion for the human figure--also is on view.

The exhibition exemplifies Mapplethorpe's rapport with the elongated and elaborate forms of Mannerist art, namely the study of the human body, highlighting the underlying classicism evident in the clarity and potency of all his subjects as well as their...