LACMA and Getty Trust Acquire Mapplethorpe Works and Letters

Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, via LACMA and J. Paul Getty Trust “Calla Lily” (1988), part of the Mapplethorpe collection acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Trust. (Click Image to Enlarge)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Trust said on Monday they had jointly acquired a huge collection of the prints, negatives and letters of Robert Mapplethorpe, further strengthening California’s position as a major center for 20th-century photography.

The acquisition is the first time the two institutions have collected works of art to share, in a partnership they formed to compete more effectively against other major museums being considered by the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation as homes for the collection. The foundation is donating the majority of the more than 2,000 photographs — including Mapplethorpe silver-gelatin prints and Polaroid works — and the Getty and the county museum, with help from the David Geffen Foundation, are buying the rest.

The foundation estimated the value of the entire collection —

via artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com