Derrick Cross

Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs of the male nude—painstakingly composed and exquisitely lit—carry an undeniable sensual charge that some found discomforting when the images were first exhibited and published. In Male Nude (Neck to Knees), the dramatic cropping out of the head removes from our view the man’s face, and forces us to concentrate on the rest of the body, yet the calculated formality of the pose can seem almost academic—a modern figure study.