ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, 1975 (detail) © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission.

Provocateur. Innovator. Icon. Museums Sheffield is thrilled to play host to the city's very first exhibition of work from one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century, Robert Mapplethorpe.

Born in 1946, American artist Robert Mapplethorpe produced some of the most striking images of the late 20th century. Garnering fame and notoriety in equal measure for the often controversial nature of his photographs, Mapplethorpe is particularly known for his enduring celebrity images and vivid documentation of New York's underground scene.

This exhibition will feature over 35 of Mapplethorpe's works from the 1970s and 80s, including career-spanning self portraits and iconic photographs of Patti Smith, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote and Marianne Faithfull.

This exhibition comes to the Graves Gallery as part of ARTIST ROOMS On Tour with The Art Fund. Museums and galleries across the UK are participating in a three year tour of ARTIST ROOMS; a new national collection created by the dealer and collector Anthony d'Offay, jointly owned by Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.

The Art Fund is a charity committed to giving people all over the UK the widest possible access to great art. With the help of 80,000 members they give around £4 million annually to museums and galleries to buy works of art and fund projects such as ARTIST ROOMS on Tour. To find out where the national tour of ARTIST ROOMS is opening next, visit www.artfund.org/artistrooms.