In the PhotoBrussels 2026 programme, you may have noticed this exhibition: Robert Mapplethorpe: Leather and S&M Underground/Herbert Tobias: Portraits.
We won’t even try to write an introduction to Robert Mapplethorpe (1946–1989) – his impact is immense, both in his own time and today. His work constantly oscillates between beauty and provocation, modesty and exuberance, the sacred and the profane, sensuality and obscenity.
For here too, we cannot ignore the fact that Mapplethorpe was instrumental in shaping the visual language of homosexuality and in the (visual) emancipation of homosexuality.
Mapplethorpe arrived in New York in the late 1960s, where he discovered homosexual culture. From 1977 onwards, he began photographing the gay SM community in all its rawness. He selected 13 of his best images, which were published in 1978 under the title Portfolio X by Lunn (Washington), Miller (New York) and Self (London). The whole edition was limited to 25 copies (and 6 APs)…
Portfolio X immediately caused a sensation, and the artist regularly added images from this series to his exhibitions. The debate surrounding these images reached its peak with the controversy sparked by the travelling exhibition The Perfect Moment in 1988. Shortly afterwards, a conservative senator voiced his disagreement and called for the immediate suspension of the exhibitions. This was followed by a period of uncertainty for the organising institutions, which ended with a brutal raid on a museum and the seizure of the images on the grounds of obscenity. In the meantime, the debate had taken on considerable momentum, in a context marked by emancipation and by the AIDS crisis (which had just claimed the life of Robert Mapplethorpe).
The name Herbert Tobias (1924-1982) does not enjoy the same notoriety, and wrongly so. For a long time, he was known only as the first known AIDS victim in Germany…
Tobias was a self-taught photographer and was called up for military service at the age of 19. He took photos at the front and deserted at the end of the war. He became Willy Maywald’s apprentice in Paris and created his first fashion photos and portraits. Tobias shot Nico’s portfolio (Velvet Underground notoriety) and also photographed a young Amanda Lear.
His photographic work is also distinguished by its social aspect, its focus on social misery. You will find some examples of this in the exhibition.
Why should you see this exhibition?
- Although the two photographers belong to different generations, their lives show great similarities.
- For both photographers, the camera was a means of accepting their homosexuality.
- Both photographers developed a very personal style and offer a unique view of their world.
- Both played an important role in the emancipation of homosexuals.
- Only 25 sets of Portfolio X were printed, of which at least five are in public collections (three in the United States and two in the Netherlands). In the last 15 years, only two complete sets have come onto the market. Of course, you can look up all the images online, but here the Galerie Eric Mouchet offers a unique opportunity to see the entire series in one space.
This exhibition remains a manifesto between aestheticization and provocation that demands freedom of expression, then as now.
John Devos
Robert Mapplethorpe: Leather and S&M Underground/Herbert Tobias: Portraits
Until 14 March, Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Galerie Eric Mouchet
Avenue Van Volxem Laan 333
1190 Forest Brussels
https://www.ericmouchet.com/
Johndevos.photo (a) gmail.com
