Michael Ward Stout, Mapplethorpe Foundation President, Dies

Michael Ward Stout, longtime president of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and a lawyer specialising in artists’ rights, has died, the Foundation announced.

A death notice published by The New York Times gives his date of death as 16 October 2026; he was 83.

Mapplethorpe established the Foundation in 1988 to promote photography and support medical research. He sought recognition for photography as a fine art.

His photographs ranged from formal portraits and flower studies to images of the body; the Whitney Museum of American Art held his first major American museum retrospective in 1988. The following year, The Perfect Moment became part of the national debate over public arts funding and censorship after the Corcoran Gallery of Art cancelled its planned Washington presentation amid political pressure.

Dimitri Levas, Mapplethorpe’s close friend, stylist and assistant from 1982 to 1989, said Stout took the lead at the Foundation after the artist’s death and served as its president for 37 years. In an Instagram tribute, Levas wrote: “With intelligence and heart and humour, he has championed the legacy left to us by a great artist.”

In 2011, the Foundation reached an agreement with the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The museums jointly acquired 2,000 editioned prints, while a substantial part of Mapplethorpe’s archive went to the Getty Research Institute. 

The New York Times reported that Stout initiated the arrangement as he looked for an institutional partner for the Foundation’s holdings. He described the goal as placing “the whole story of Mapplethorpe” with a major institution.

Born in Milwaukee in 1943, Stout earned a bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Wisconsin. After moving to New York, he worked in corporate law, then in intellectual property and copyright. He began his own practice in 1974, focusing on image-based legal issues and the rights of visual artists. He represented artists including Salvador Dalí and became founding partner of Stout Thomas & Johnson.

Stout first knew Mapplethorpe socially in New York in the 1970s. Around 1980 or 1981, he became Mapplethorpe’s lawyer as the artist pursued commissions and licensing opportunities for designs and artworks.

In an essay for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Stout recalled Mapplethorpe’s interest in licensing work for products including watches, jewelry, porcelain and furniture. The two became friends as well as lawyer and client.

The Foundation’s memorial post included a commissioned portrait of Stout made by Mapplethorpe in 1986. The Foundation said: “He has left a lasting mark on the art world, and on all those who had the privilege of knowing him.”