-
Mapplethorpe is born
-
President Johnson ratifies the NEA
President Johnson signs the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, establishing the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities -
Period: to
Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith live together
The couple are artistically and romantically involved. (EXACT DATES OF COHABITATION UNKNOWN) -
Mapplethorpe drops out of the Pratt Institute
Mapplethorpe initially pursued a degree in graphic arts at Pratt in Brooklyn. (DATE UNKNOWN) -
Patti Smith releases "Horses" album
Smith uses Mapplethorpe's photograph for the album cover. Mapplethorpe took this photo in the light of a Greenwhich Village penthouse. -
Mapplethorpe releases "Black Book"
"Black Book" presents a provocative photographic study of black men that displays Mapplethorpe's sculptural use of light. -
Mapplethorpe dies
HIV claims the photographer's life; he spent his last months with Patti Smith. -
D'Amato and Serrano
D'Amato rips up the catalog containing Andre Serrano's "Piss Christ" on the Senate floor. -
Corcoran Gallery cancels Mapplethorpe's "The Perfect Moment"
In an attempt to comply with the NEA's funding appropriations, the Corcoran Gallery of Washington D.C. cancels Mapplethorpe's traveling solo exhibition. At the end of June, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by representative Yates, issues a bill recommending a $171.4 million 1990 appropriation, $2.4 million more than the current year. This bill also includes an amendment that requires subgrantors to receive final approval from the NEA before awarding grants to subgranteees. -
John Frohnmayer becomes the head of the NEA
President Bush places Frohnmayer at the helm of the NEA. -
Frohnmayer revokes funding for "Witnesses: Against Our Vanishing" exhibition
Frohnmayer pulls a $10,000 grant from the Artists Space show, a exhibition whose catalogue features an essay by David Wojnarowicz. -
"Witness: Against Our Vanishing" exhibition
"WAOV" opens at Artists Space in New York. -
Arts Advocacy Day protests
Hancock and Rohrabacher hold a press conference, calling for the elimination of the NEA. This media session was held in conjunction with other conservative lobbyist: Eagle Forum, Concerned Women for America and the Traditional Values coaltion. -
"The Perfect Moment" opens at Cincinnati
"The Perfect Moment" opens in Cincinnati. Museum director Dennis Barrie is indicted for pandering obscenity and "illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.'' -
ICA Pennsylvania denied funding
The National Council on the Arts denies Pennsylvania's ICA two $40,000 grants. -
David Gergen's attack via US News
David Gergen attacks Finley, Hughes, Miller, and Fleck in US News in an article notable for its many factual errors called "Who Should Pay for Porn?" -
NEA lawsuit
Finley, Hughes, Miller, and Fleck file suit against the NEA and Frohnmayer, charging that their grants were denied for political reasons. -
Frohnmayer resigns from the NEA
Fohnmayer ends his tenure at the arts association -
"Perfection in Form" debuts at the Galleria dell'Accademia
111 works from Michelangelo, Warhol, Man Ray and Brice Warden are placed in dialogue with each other. -
LACMA and The Getty acquire Mapplethorpe archive
The two California art institutions jointly own over 2,000 works of art -- polaroids, gelatin prints, etc.-- from Mapplethorpe's estate. According to Michael Ward Stout, director of the artist's foundation, the Mapplethorpe acquisition carries a value of over $30 million.
