Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Denied Use of Roy Cohn Portrait for New Biography Over Political Concerns
The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation refused to license Mapplethorpe’s 1981 portrait Roy Cohn for the cover of a forthcoming biography, American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump, citing political concerns reported by the New York Times. The book is co-authored by Kai Bird and Susan Goldmark, and the foundation—registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit—reportedly worried that using the image could be seen as a political act because of the biography’s negative portrayal of President Donald Trump and potential retaliation affecting its tax status. The portrait was made when Cohn was being interviewed for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, after writer Steven M.L. Aronson persuaded him to sit for Mapplethorpe; both Cohn and Mapplethorpe later died of AIDS-related complications. A print of the photograph entered the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Trust in 2011 via a gift from the foundation, and Bird told the Times he was “thunderstruck” and “outraged” by the licensing denial.
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This story was covered in Museum Scandals, Censorship Clashes, and a Stolen Jewel