Photograph Rumoured by Robert Mapplethorpe for TIME
Accompanying the profile of Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in this week's issue of TIME is a photograph taken by Robert Mapplethorpe. It is a particularly apt pairing of artist and subject: Koop has been one of the most outspoken leaders in the fight against AIDS, and Mapplethorpe, an AIDS sufferer since 1984, by publicizing his illness helped raise awareness of the disease in New York City art circles and beyond.
Koop and Mapplethorpe were brought together by Linda Freeman, assistant to TIME art director Rudy Hoglund. First she secured Koop's willingness to be photographed by Mapplethorpe, whose erotic images often overshadowed his iconographic portraits of celebrities and his still lifes. "Although Mapplethorpe had always wanted to shoot an assignment for TIME, his studio informed us that he was too ill to go to Washington," Freeman says. So Koop agreed to come to Manhattan.
The session in Mapplethorpe's loft lasted only about an hour, but it filled the studio with powerful, unspoken emotions. Koop, a strapping man in uniform, seemed the epitome of physical strength. Mapplethorpe, pale, coughing and looking emaciated, moved about in obvious pain as he worked. "It was a poignant experience to have my picture taken by a man dying of a disease that I've spent so much time trying to educate the public about," recalls Koop.
The two engaged in small talk about Koop's busy schedule and Mapplethorpe's latest exhibition, organized by Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art. "Robert had been thrilled about the prospect of shooting Koop," says Anne Kennedy, the photographer's agent. "He had enormous respect for him and his compassion for people suffering from AIDS. He really rallied to do this. He had been spending most days in bed." Out of respect for the Surgeon General's well-known views on smoking, Mapplethorpe hid his cigarettes before Koop arrived.
After the session, Koop gently addressed Mapplethorpe's illness, turning to , the artist before saying goodbye: "I hope it goes well for you." Thirty- seven days later, on March 9, Mapplethorpe died at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. He was 42. The Koop photograph turned out to be Mapplethorpe's last portrait assignment.
Labels: C Everett Koop, Robert Mapplethorpe
