'Horses' Poster

Promotional poster for the November 1975 release of Horses on Arista Records — Patti Smith's debut album, one of the founding documents of American punk and a touchstone of late-twentieth-century rock photography. The image reproduced on the poster is Robert Mapplethorpe's portrait of Smith in a white shirt and slung black jacket: an early, unguarded study by her closest friend and collaborator, and one of the most iconic photographic portraits of any musician of her generation. The layout is by Robert L. Heimall, also credited with the sleeve designs for the MC5's Kick Out the Jams and The Stooges' self-titled debut, both released by Elektra Records in 1969 — placing Heimall at the visual continuum that runs from late-1960s proto-punk into Smith's downtown New York moment.

LITERATURE:

Krivine, Andrew. Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die: Punk and Post-Punk Graphics. London: Pavilion Books, 2020, p. 41

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection