Over 2,000 works by Robert Mapplethorpe and an extensive collection of negatives, personal letters, and other documentation has been jointly acquired by LACMA and the J. Paul Getty Trust from the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. The partners were chosen for several reasons, including the emergence of Los Angeles as a major cultural center, and the Getty Research Institute’s archival resources. The Mapplethorpe Foundation gifted most of the material and the rest was funded by the David Geffen Foundation and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
The two institutions are planning several publications and collaborative exhibitions. This is the first such joint acquisition by the two. The result will be the richest collection of Mapplethorpe material in one place, both for the public and for scholars.
Read full story in the LA Times here.