Title: Wagstaff
Subtitle: Before and After Mapplethorpe: A Biography
Description: A legendary curator, collector, and patron of the arts, Sam Wagstaff was a "figure who stood at the intersection of gay life and the art world and brought glamour and daring to both" (Andrew Solomon). Now, in Philip Gefter's groundbreaking biography, he emerges as a cultural visionary. Gefter documents the influence of the man who―although known today primarily as the mentor and lover of Robert Mapplethorpe―"almost invented the idea of photography as art" (Edmund White). Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe braids together Wagstaff's personal transformation from closeted society bachelor to a rebellious curator with a broader portrait of the tumultuous social, cultural, and sexual upheavals of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, creating a definitive portrait of a man and his era. 32 pages of photographs
Subjects: Art museum curators, Friends and associates, Art, Biography, Collectors and collecting, Art museums, Art, collectors and collecting, Photographs, collectors and collecting, New York Times reviewed, LGBTQ art & artists, LGBTQ biography and memoir, collection:randy_shilts_award=finalist