Robert Mapplethorpe

American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was only in his early forties when he died of Aids in 1989. David Hockney knew him personally and was photographed by him on several occasions. Now, he's curated an exhibition of some 50 photographs, among them lesser-known images never before seen in London.

It's an artists' art show, with a horde of wellknown talents crowding the walls. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Louise Bourgeois: expect to see them all, captured by Mapplethorpe in dramatic black and white and flanked by portraits of still more famous friends --Richard Gere, Marianne Faithfull and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Mapplethorpe's flower studies and nudes won him just as much attention as his portraits, and you'll find strong examples of both here. But he enjoyed his reputation for controversy, and while his images are beautiful, they frequently teeter on the obscene or else revel in S&M.

Thur 13 Jan-Sat 12 Mar, Alison Jacques Gallery, 4 Clifford Street, W1 (020-7287 7675).