Title: Certain People: A Book of Portraits
Author: Robert Mapplethorpe
Publisher: Twelvetrees Press, 1985
Text by Susan Sontag, photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe;120 pages, black and
white illustrations
Collected from nearly 10 years of portraiture, this book features subjects ranging
from environmental portraits of children, to stylized studio shots of celebrities.
Mapplethorpe’s strength of vision and attention to lighting, composition, and detail
are revealed in many of the photographs. He famously remarked, “I’m not interested in
those…plain people.” A sentiment that is evident on every starkly presented black and
white page. Susan Sontag’s essay on the genre of portraiture underscores the seemingly
straightforward, yet inscrutable qualities in each of Mapplethorpe’s photographs.
Mapplethorpe’s work stands as an icon of New York in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
Nowhere is it more apparent than in this collection of stunning photographs.
