Køn, Kunst & Pornografi – Om livet på grænsen - Aarhus Universitet

5. English Summary
In the thesis Gender, Art & Pornography – On Life on the Edge. An Analysis of Selected
Aspects of the Work of the American Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe I analyse some of
the different aspects present in the photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe. The photographs are
often seen as controversial because they include pictures of sexual activities. The thesis deals
with the relation between art and pornography and the different aspects related to the work.
The thesis is composed of three major chapters. The first chapter is about Mapplethorpes
position in the photographic tradition within the diciplines of the formalistic straight
photography and the later staged photography. In comparison with selected photographers of
the two traditions I want to show the similar aspects present in the work of Mapplethorpe. The
chapter include a presentation of the work of Edward Weston, Man Ray, Cindy Sherman and
Joel-Peter Witkin. Photographs of Nan Goldin are also presentet in this chapter. Furthermore
the work links to the classic tradition and the work of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. Her work
are among other things known for their focus on the human body as an aesthetic object. In this
relation I use the theory presentet by the American cultural critic Kobena Mercer, whose
intersectionaly readings of Mapplethorpes work are useful in comparison of the photographs
of Riefenstahl and Mapplethorpe. Mercer focus on the difficulties connected with the reading
of Mapplethorpes photographs caused by the different genres that are possible to relate to the
photographs. In the second chapter I analyse a selection of Mapplethorpes selfportraits,
pictures of the female bodybuilder Lisa Lyon and the musician and close friend Patti Smith in
relation to the queer theory presentet by the American theorist Judith Butler. In the pictures
are elements that challenge the traditional notions of sex, gender and sexuality. The final
chapter is about the close connection of the photographs to pornography. Concepts within the
pornographic photograph presented by the Danish art historian Rune Gade are central. The
photographs are also seen as related to a tradition within the homoerotic photograph presentet
by photographers as Wilhelm von Gloeden and Fred Holland Day. Mapplethorpes
photographs of the homosexual sado-masochistic leatherscene of New York in the late 1970s
are central in this chapter. To place the pictures within the tradition of art history I compare
the photographs with the work of Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. I relate the pictures to the
concept of the French theorist Roland Barthes of the erotic and the pornographic picture and
that of the British art historian Kenneth Clarks about the naked and the nude. In the end of the
chapter focus is on the current interest of the pictures. I compare the pictures of children with
a similar picture of Nan Goldin which recently made a debate. Finally I conclude on my
research that the pictures are still relevant and of current interest today.
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