The Queens Childhood Behind a Name Collectors Still Chase

Robert Mapplethorpe entered the world in Queens, New York, in 1946, born into a household where religion set the rules early. His mother's plan for him ran toward the priesthood, the path a devout upbringing was meant to lead to. He chose art instead, a decision that broke with what his family expected of him. That early turn, from a strict Queens household toward the study of art, is the starting point of a career now traced in galleries and collections far beyond his hometown.

With reporting from The Collector.