Robert Mapplethorpe's Italian Trilogy Concludes at Rome's Museo dell'Ara Pacis with 'Le Forme della Bellezza'

Key facts

• The exhibition 'Robert Mapplethorpe. Le forme della bellezza' is on view at the Museo dell'Ara Pacis in Rome until October 4.
• The Rome show is curated by Denis Curti and concludes a three-city Italian tour that began at the Stanze della Fotografia in Venice and continued at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
• Robert Mapplethorpe was born in Queens in 1946 and died in Boston in 1989.
• A 1983 photograph made at the Reggia di Caserta shows Atteone with his head transformed into that of a stag and belongs to Mapplethorpe's Statue Series.
• The Italian photographs reflect Mapplethorpe's relationship with Neapolitan gallerist Lucio Amelio, who invited him to contribute to Terrae Motus after the 1980 earthquake.
• The Rome section 'Nudi e fiori' pairs 'Man in Polyester Suit' (1980), featuring Milton Moore, with 'Calla Lily' (1984).
• Portraits in the exhibition include Isabella Rossellini, Roy Lichtenstein, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith.
• The review, by Greta Wolff, uses Jacques Lacan's concept of jouissance and compares Mapplethorpe's single-minded pursuit to Julije Knifer's career-long meander motif.