Patti Smith Remembers Robert Mapplethorpe

Pat­ti Smith. Robert Map­plethor­pe. Born in 1946, the two bud­ding artists met in New York City, long before the 21 year olds achieved their even­tu­al fame – before Smith earned her creds as the “god­moth­er of punk,” and before Map­plethor­pe put his unique stamp on Amer­i­can pho­tog­ra­phy. Their long-last­ing friend­ship was doc­u­ment­ed in Smith’s bit­ter­sweet mem­oir, Just Kids, which won the 2010 Nation­al Book Award for Non­fic­tion. Above, while appear­ing at The New York Pub­lic Library, Smith recounts the day she met Map­plethor­pe as a young­ster. Now 64 years old, she also elab­o­rates on this sto­ry (and more) dur­ing a lengthy inter­view on NPR’s Fresh Air. Stream the audio right below…