This exquisite photogravure after Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989), titled Javier, from the folio A Season in Hell, originates from the 1986 edition published by The Limited Editions Club, New York, with folio design and editing by Benjamin Shiff, New York, and printed by Wingate Studio, Winchester, under the direction of Jon Goodman, with the assistance of Peter Pettengill and Robert Townsend, Winchester, 1986. The work embodies Mapplethorpe’s devotion to classical form, spiritual symbolism, and the disciplined beauty of the photographic medium.
Executed as a photogravure on papier gravure Cartiere Enrico Magnani a la main, mounted on papier Cartiere Enrico Magnani a la main moule-presse paper, this work measures 11.5 x 7.75 inches overall; 4.625 x 4.625 inches image size. Unsigned and unnumbered as issued. The edition demonstrates the exceptional craftsmanship of Wingate Studio and the collaborative vision of The Limited Editions Club under Benjamin Shiff’s direction.
Artwork Details:
Artist: Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989)
Title: Javier, from the folio A Season in Hell
Medium: Photogravure on papier gravure Cartiere Enrico Magnani a la main, mounted on papier Cartiere Enrico Magnani a la main moule-presse paper
Dimensions: 11.5 x 7.75 inches overall; 4.625 x 4.625 inches image size (29.21 x 19.69 cm overall; 11.75 x 11.75 cm image)
Inscription: Unsigned and unnumbered as issued
Date: 1986
Publisher: The Limited Editions Club, New York
Printer: Wingate Studio, Winchester; under the direction of Jon Goodman, with the assistance of Peter Pettengill and Robert Townsend
Condition: Well preserved, consistent with age and medium
Provenance: From the folio A Season in Hell, published by The Limited Editions Club, New York, 1986
Notes:
Excerpted from the folio, M examples of this edition have been printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress. The text has been set in fourteen point monotype Perpetua at Out of Sorts Letterfoundery. The design is by Benjamin Shiff. The photogravure plates were made by Jon Goodman. These plates were editioned at the studios of Jon Goodman, Peter Pettengill and Robert Townsend. The paper used for the text of the book is a mould-made letterpress sheet; The photogravures were printed on a handmade etching paper. Both papers have been made for this edition at Cartiere Enrico Magnani. This folio has been bound by and the slipcase made at the Jovonis Bookbindery.
About the Publication:
A Season in Hell (1986) represents one of the most distinguished literary and artistic collaborations of the 20th century, uniting Arthur Rimbaud’s groundbreaking 1873 prose poem with Robert Mapplethorpe’s visionary photographic interpretation. Conceived and published by The Limited Editions Club under the guidance of Benjamin Shiff, this edition reimagines Rimbaud’s journey through anguish, revelation, and redemption through the lens of Mapplethorpe’s austere and transcendent imagery. Each photogravure, rendered with unparalleled tonal richness by master printer Jon Goodman and his collaborators, evokes the sensuality, discipline, and spirituality that define Mapplethorpe’s mature style. Printed on handmade papers from Cartiere Enrico Magnani and bound with artisanal precision by the Jovonis Bookbindery, the volume exemplifies the Limited Editions Club’s devotion to craftsmanship and fine art publishing. Melding literature, photography, and bookmaking into a unified aesthetic experience, A Season in Hell remains a landmark of late 20th-century art publishing and a testament to the enduring power of Rimbaud’s poetic genius and Mapplethorpe’s visual mastery.
About the Artist:
Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989) was an American photographer whose fearless vision, immaculate craftsmanship, and pursuit of beauty transformed photography into one of the defining fine arts of the modern era. Born in Queens, New York, and educated at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, he emerged from the countercultural ferment of the 1970s to become one of the most provocative and revered figures in 20th-century art. Initially working in collage and Polaroid photography, Mapplethorpe soon mastered large-format photography, developing an aesthetic that fused the classical precision of Renaissance sculpture with the sensuality and controversy of contemporary life. Deeply influenced by the technical perfection of Edward Weston, the surrealism of Man Ray, and the modernist experimentation of Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, he created images of haunting formal purity and daring eroticism. His portraits of artists and icons such as Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, and Grace Jones captured the pulse of New York’s avant-garde, while his still lifes and nudes explored the interplay of desire, identity, and transcendence. Like Paul Strand, Andre Kertesz, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassai, Bill Brandt, and August Sander, Mapplethorpe pursued an absolute mastery of composition and tonal contrast, but his work also embraced the avant-garde provocations of Marcel Duchamp and Salvador Dali, presenting beauty as both discipline and defiance. His explicit photographs of the BDSM subculture, once condemned as shocking, are now recognized as landmark explorations of power, vulnerability, and self-expression—bridging the sacred and the profane with rare artistic integrity. Mapplethorpe’s influence extended far beyond his lifetime, shaping the vision of later artists and photographers including Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky, Richard Prince, Jeff Wall, Nan Goldin, Vik Muniz, Gregory Crewdson, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Thomas Ruff, Helmut Newton, Diane Arbus, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Wolfgang Tillmans, Sebastiao Salgado, and Daido Moriyama, all of whom share his bold engagement with beauty, identity, and the human condition. His work is represented in major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Centre Pompidou, and the Tate, and his legacy continues through the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, which supports the arts and HIV/AIDS research. A symbol of creative defiance and formal perfection, Mapplethorpe remains one of the most transformative and influential photographers in history—an artist who saw beauty in every form, from the divine to the forbidden. The highest auction record for Robert Mapplethorpe was achieved with Lisa Lyon, which sold for 350,000 USD at Sotheby’s, New York, on April 6, 2015, affirming his enduring place among the greatest visionaries in modern photography.
Robert Mapplethorpe Javier A Season in Hell The Limited Editions Club Jon Goodman photogravure papier gravure Cartiere Enrico Magnani Benjamin Shiff Wingate Studio.
