Mapplethorpe Estate Settles Defamation Suit Against Christie’s

Mapplethorpe Rests

On July 30, the heated legal skirmish that began six years ago when Michael Ward Stout, executor of the estate of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, initiated a $200 million defamation suit against Christie’s, came to a disarmingly quiet end. A single-paragraph statement on plain, letterhead-free paper noted that the auction house, the Mapplethorpe estate Read More

Mapplethorpe Foundation Livid Over Miller Gallery’s Sex Show

The letter from the Robert Miller Gallery to the president of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation came without warning. Dated March 18 and addressed to attorney Michael Ward Stout, who is the Mapplethorpe estate’s executor and the foundation’s president, the letter is signed by Mr. Miller’s wife, Sarah (Betsy) Wittenborn Miller, who is the gallery’s chief Read More