Mapplethorpe

Elie’s cast of characters — an eclectic list that includes Andy Warhol, Sinéad O’Connor, Bob Dylan, Bono, Czeslaw Milosz, Martin Scorsese and Robert Mapplethorpe — were, to varying degrees, children of the church who had internalized its tenets at a time when religion was still a central fact of life in America and Europe in the ’50s and ’60s.

Anchored by the poignant tale of her love affair with Robert Mapplethorpe, Smith’s story is an estimably mind-blowing response to the bottomless task of capturing why young and beautiful people do their relentless best in a little place called New York City.

In April 1990, about a year after photographer Robert Mapplethorpe died of AIDS, “The Perfect Moment,” a retrospective show of 175 works, was scheduled to open at Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center.

Seven of Mapplethorpe’s photos, two featuring nude or partially nude children, were deemed obscene.

It features historic moments from the civil rights movement to Aids activism, and includes works by Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Ai Weiwei and others.