"Altars is the full-color companion volume to the definitive collection of his black-and-white prints, Mapplethorpe, published in 1992. Beginning with his early collages, Polaroids, and unpublished color prints, Altars follows Mapplethorpe's preoccupation with color and geometry through a wide range of subject matter, from intimate portraits of Patti Smith to sado-masochistic rituals. The book ends with the multiple-colored panels of his late, unique photographic pieces, elaboratly framed. "--book jacket.