The Iconic Work of the Photographer’s Art

Celebrating LGBTQ-History Month in February

The name Milton Moore probably means nothing to most people. Only in the art world might a few handfuls remember the name. For it is not his role as an artist’s model that we recall. It is just one photo for which he acted as the model that continues to strike us today.

Robert Mapplethorpe was a photographer who preferred to work in black-and-white. Born in New York in 1946, he originally lived with his girlfriend, the musician, Patti Smith, for six years. She helped him with his work and was to remain close to him all his life. In 1972 that life changed when he met the man he assumed would be his lifetime companion, Sam Wagstaff. Although 25 years older than Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff was an art connoisseur and curator. Seeing his photographs for the first time he realised that photography was arguably the last unexplored, unrecognised and potentially wealthy art forms. This was to prove prophetic when singer Eton John started collecting photos big time in 1991. His collection now boasts over 7,000 photographs estimated to be worth at auction well over US$10 million.

We know Mapplethorpe today as a gay icon largely on the basis of a series of photos of young men. One in particular, though, has achieved iconic status. The photo for which Miton Moore acted as the model was taken in 1980 and is titled Man in Polyester Suit. We’ve all seen it. It merely shows the torso of an African Amercan’s body clothed in the sleek lines of an elegant three-piece suit. The clothing is disrupted with the exposure normally hidden of the man’s impressive uncircumcised penis. 

Photo copyright: Robert Mapplethorple Foundation

Mapplethorpe’s photos had by now become more daring and heaped scorn on him by some of the political leaders of the day. Although twice married, as a result of his new liaison Wagstaff was introduced to New York’s gay and drug-fuelled underground. Having helped put the photographer on the art map, Sam Wagstaff died in 1987 of AIDS. Mapplethorpe was sadly to follow him two years later dying of AIDS aged 42. 

Man in Polyester Suit continues to fascinate. All of Mapplethorpe’s work continues to attract high prices at auction. In 2015 Sotheby’s sold Man in Polyester Suit for US$478,000. At auction in 1992, it sold for US$9,000.