African Daisy, 1982 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Mapplethorpe Flora: The Complete Flowers, Phaidon Calla Lily, 1988 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation ...

The stark black-and-white compositions do what Mapplethorpe did best: transform the socially unacceptable into formalist art ...

Punk poet Patti Smith once wrote, “We went our separate ways, but within walking distance of one another,” in reference to her relationship with the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe ...