ThoughtGallery.org > Film Screening: Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe

Film Screening: Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe

Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe(2007)
Directed by James Crump, 72 minutes
Courtesy Swank Motion Pictures

The Guggenheim presents a series of documentaries exploring the legacy of Robert Mapplethorpe Tuesday evenings in February.

Yale-educated and born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Sam Wagstaff transformed from innovative museum curator to Robert Mapplethorpe’s lover and patron—an evolution that is intensively probed in Black White + Gray. During the heady years of the 1970s and ’80s, the New York City art scene was abuzz with a new spirit, and Mapplethorpe was at the center of it. Wagstaff had pulled him from his suburban existence in Queens, given him a camera, and introduced him to this world that seemed to be waiting for him—creating the man whose infamous images instilled emotions ranging from awe to anger. In turn, Mapplethorpe brought the formerly starched-shirt preppie into a circle of drugs and gay S&M sex, a milieu well documented by the artist in his still-startling photographs.











When: Tue., Feb. 5, 2019 at 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Where: Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave. (at 89th St.)
212-423-3500
Price: Free with Admission
Buy tickets/get more info now
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Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe(2007)
Directed by James Crump, 72 minutes
Courtesy Swank Motion Pictures

The Guggenheim presents a series of documentaries exploring the legacy of Robert Mapplethorpe Tuesday evenings in February.

Yale-educated and born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Sam Wagstaff transformed from innovative museum curator to Robert Mapplethorpe’s lover and patron—an evolution that is intensively probed in Black White + Gray. During the heady years of the 1970s and ’80s, the New York City art scene was abuzz with a new spirit, and Mapplethorpe was at the center of it. Wagstaff had pulled him from his suburban existence in Queens, given him a camera, and introduced him to this world that seemed to be waiting for him—creating the man whose infamous images instilled emotions ranging from awe to anger. In turn, Mapplethorpe brought the formerly starched-shirt preppie into a circle of drugs and gay S&M sex, a milieu well documented by the artist in his still-startling photographs.

Buy tickets/get more info now