Lowell Blair Nesbitt - Robert Mapplethorpe Scandal

Robert Mapplethorpe Scandal

In June 1989 Lowell Nesbitt became involved with the scandal involving fellow artist photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. The Corcoran Gallery of Art(Museum) in Washington D.C. had agreed to host a solo exhibit of Mapplethorpe's works without stipulating what type of subject matter would be used. Mapplethorpe decided to make his famed debut of "sexually suggestive" photographs in Washington D.C.; a new series that he had explored shortly before his death. The hierarchy of the Corcoran and even certain members of United States Congress were horrified when the works were revealed to them, thus the museum refused to go ahead with the exhibit. It was at this time that Nesbitt stepped forward. As a long time friend of Mapplethorpe's he revealed that he had a 1,500,000.00 USD bequest to the museum in his will. However, in public statements causing a press sensation regarding the issue, Nesbitt promised that if the museum refused to host the exhibition of the controversial images created by Mapplethorpe he would revoke his bequest. The Corcoran refused and Lowell Nesbitt bequeathed the 1,500,000.00 USD to the Phillips Collection which he cited as an early inspiration to his career when he had worked there as a young man in the position of a night watchman.