{"product_id":"robert-mapplethorpe-some-women-bulfinch-press-1992","title":"Robert Mapplethorpe — Some Women, Bulfinch Press, 1992","description":"\u003cp\u003eHardcover with illustrated dust jacket, 25.5 × 30.5 cm, 116 pages, black-and-white duotone reproductions throughout. Introduction by Joan Didion. Good vintage condition: light shelf wear and handling marks consistent with age, minor rubbing and gentle toning to the dust jacket. A clean, highly presentable copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePublished three years after Robert Mapplethorpe’s death, \u003cem\u003eSome Women\u003c\/em\u003e gathers eighty-six portraits spanning the final decade of his career. Conceived as one of his last publishing projects, the book presents actresses, musicians, artists, writers, models, and anonymous sitters with the same formal precision that defined his practice. Joan Didion’s introduction situates the photographs within Mapplethorpe’s pursuit of beauty, restraint, and classical composition, providing one of the most perceptive contemporary texts written about his work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnlike \u003cem\u003eBlack Book\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eFlowers\u003c\/em\u003e, or \u003cem\u003eLady, Lisa Lyon\u003c\/em\u003e, this volume focuses exclusively on female portraiture, bringing together images of figures including Patti Smith, Grace Jones, Yoko Ono, Isabella Rossellini, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon, Sigourney Weaver, and Cyndi Lauper. Rather than functioning as a celebrity book, it reveals Mapplethorpe’s consistent approach to portraiture: every sitter receives the same sculptural treatment, where light, gesture, and geometry become more important than fame itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe publication belongs to an important moment in early-1990s photography publishing. Following the debates surrounding \u003cem\u003eThe Perfect Moment\u003c\/em\u003e exhibition and Mapplethorpe’s death in 1989, institutions and publishers increasingly treated his books as definitive statements rather than exhibition companions. \u003cem\u003eSome Women\u003c\/em\u003e stands among the strongest examples of this shift, functioning simultaneously as a memorial publication, a monograph, and a carefully edited survey of one aspect of his photographic legacy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToday, the book remains widely held in museum and academic libraries but is becoming increasingly difficult to source in genuinely clean condition. The matte dust jacket, black boards, and large-format construction are particularly susceptible to rubbing, edge wear, and fading, making well-preserved copies increasingly desirable to collectors of photography, post-war portraiture, and late twentieth-century artist books.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShipping and handling included in the listed price.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bulfinch Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53783495770450,"sku":"MAPPLETHORPE-BULFINCH-CAT-1992","price":65.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Mapplethorpe_Robert._Some_Women._1992.jpg?v=1781761879","url":"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/products\/robert-mapplethorpe-some-women-bulfinch-press-1992","provider":"The New Rare","version":"1.0","type":"link"}