Robert Mapplethorpe: Patti Smith

“Just Kids”—that’s how musician [Patti Smith](/artist/patti-smith) [described](/artwork/5bf9cc84e9189b0d489f038b) the longtime love and friendship she and fellow artist, [Robert Mapplethorpe](/artist/robert-mapplethorpe), shared in her 2010 memoir. The rebellious pair met on the eve of the 1970s and lived together in New York’s Chelsea Hotel. During their extended stay at the Chelsea, a friend lent Mapplethorpe a Polaroid camera, and he was instantly drawn to the medium. Soon enough, Smith became one of Mapplethorpe’s most beloved subjects, and she even used his [portrait](/artist-series/robert-mapplethorpe-portraits) of her 1975 for her debut album, *[Horses](/article/artsy-editorial-mapplethorpes-photographs-remain-subversive-shock-value)*. In her memoir, Smith encapsulates the bohemian photographer’s intuitive gaze [writing](/artwork/5bf9cc84e9189b0d489f038b), “He \[Mapplethorpe\] took about 12 pictures. By the eighth one, he said, “‘I got it.’”