Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe is a 2007 American documentary film directed by James Crump.[1] The film chronicles the symbiotic relationship between Sam Wagstaff, an American museum curator and collector of fine art, and Robert Mapplethorpe, the American fine art photographer whose controversial images were at the center of debate about public funding for the arts and the culture wars of the late 1980s.[2][3] The film also explores the relationship both men shared with poet/musician Patti Smith in the New York art world of the 1970s.[4]
| Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | James Crump |
| Written by | James Crump |
| Produced by | James Crump Stanley F. Buchthal Maja Hoffmann David Koh |
| Starring | Sam Wagstaff Robert Mapplethorpe Patti Smith Gordon Baldwin Joan Juliet Buck Dick Cavett Dominick Dunne Philippe Garner Ralph Gibson John Giorno Timothy Greenfield-Sanders John Richardson Ingrid Sischy Holly Solomon John Szarkowski Pierre Apraxine Raymond Foye Jeffrey Fraenkel Tukey Koffend Jean-Jacques Naudet Eugenia Parry Paul Walter Clark Worswick |
| Music by | J. Ralph |
Release dates |
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Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Reception
editStephen Holden of The New York Times reviewed Black White + Gray, calling it, "a potent exercise in art-world mythography that might be nicknamed 'The Prince and the Punk.'"[5] Vince Aletti pronounced the film "fascinating" in The New Yorker's Critic's Notebook, writing "Savvy, charismatic, and devilishly handsome, Wagstaff found the perfect foil and goad in Mapplethorpe, but it was the collector, not the photographer, who left the most indelible and idiosyncratic mark on the medium they shared."[6] James Christopher declared in The Times of London, "This is a terrific documentary by James Crump about the unsung collector, Wagstaff, and his lopsided relationship with his hungry young lover, Mapplethorpe."[7] Writing for Crave, Sundance Fellow and film critic, Ernest Hardy pronounced, "Crump’s willingness to present a dissenting voice to what might otherwise come off as an almost fairy-tale pairing might seem an obvious directorial choice, but as documentaries slide more and more into blatant hagiography, it’s a relief to find a filmmaker inserting grainier perspectives for a grainier film."[4] Philip Gefter, a biographer of Sam Wagstaff, wrote about the film for The New York Times in anticipation of its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.[8]
The film has a score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.[9]
Release
editThe film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on May 1, 2007 and theatrically via Arthouse Films on October 19, 2007.[10][11]
References
edit- ^ Jenkins, David (August 13, 2008). "Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe". Time Out. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
- ^ Jay Weisberg, Review of Black White + Gray, Variety Magazine, May 7, 2007 [dead link]
- ^ Page, Janice (April 6, 2008). "DVD Report: The dark allure of cultural outlaws". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ a b Hardy, Ernest (August 25, 2015). "Art Doc of the Week Black White + Gray". Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (October 19, 2007). "A Collector and His Polaroid Passions". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
- ^ Aletti, Vince (October 22, 2007). "The Collector". The New Yorker. Retrieved August 13, 2018.
- ^ Christopher, James (August 14, 2008). "Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe". The Times. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ Gefter, Philip (April 24, 2007). "The Man Who Made Mapplethorpe". The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ "Film Guide Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe". Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
- ^ Ohan, Paul (May 3, 2007). "Black White + Gray : A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 14, 2018.