Rock activist and poet Patti Smith talks to The Times about her relationship with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe as a new exhibit featuring works from the time period when they were close prepares to open in London:
“We had nothing much to live on but we instantly became inseparable. We made art all the time together, out of anything, the cheapest materials. He was trained and very gifted and he shared many things with me and taught me things. He had the ability and I had the guts. We lived and worked side by side for years. We inspired each other, but his vision was fully formed. There was nothing I could teach him about his art. I read the books and he learned from me that way. We used to boost each other's egos in those early days. He'd say, ‘Patti, that's genius. But you wanna see something really genius?' We loved to laugh. We used to compare ourselves to Braque and Picasso. The only reason Robert would be Braque was because Braque was a great dancer and Robert fancied himself as a dancer.”
Smith still owns a pair of Mapplethorpe's black velvet slippers monogrammed in gold with his initials. The portrait of this woman, who has lost a brother, a husband, Mapplethorpe, and her pianist, brims with sorrow:
“I sometimes think I could be the saddest person in the world. Or the luckiest. Every one of them has magnified me. I've got better and better as a person with each loss. I try not to go too far into being sad. It can be a dark place. But most of the time I'm filled with energy and love. When Robert died, the energy I had was from all the things I knew of him and his life. Everything in my body was so accessible through him.”
Elegy for a Lost Soulmate [times online]
You may have missed…
Mapplethorpe Flowers Up for Auction [tr]
Hockney Does Mapplethorpe [tr]