Robert Mapplethorpe’s collaboration with Lisa Lyon, a pioneering female bodybuilder, resulted in a striking series of photographs exploring themes of gender, power, and the sculptural beauty of the human form. They met in 1979 at a party in New York City. Within hours of this first encounter, the two embarked on a six-year collaboration that resulted in more than 200 photographs. As a pioneering female bodybuilding champion, Lyon’s sinewy body blurred conventional gender lines, allowing the photographer to explore the female physique while still working within his lexicon of the muscular, sculptural body. Here, she takes a dramatic, theatrical pose—arms spread open, feet planted wide, and head thrown back—in front of a seamless studio backdrop common to fashion shoots. More than a portrait of Lyon, this is a picture of Issey Miyake’s glossy plastic Bustier, which had just appeared in the Japanese designer’s fall/winter 1981–82 collection. It was one of several images Mapplethorpe shot in connection with an exhibition held at MIT’s Hayden Gallery in 1982 featuring Lyon modeling clothes by eight contemporary fashion designers.
Since Lyon viewed herself as a sculptor or performance artist whose body was her medium, she and Mapplethorpe worked together as co-creators. Their collaboration culminated in the 1983 book Lady: Lisa Lyon, with a foreword by writer Bruce Chatwin. Through these photographs, Mapplethorpe not only celebrated Lyon’s physique but also pushed the boundaries of portraiture, redefining how the female body could be perceived in art and culture.
Britt Salvesen
2025
