The opening of this exhibition was packed through word-of-mouth, not just because it includes several previously unseen works. The draw was Patti Smith, who sang and recited poems to mark the 20th anniversary of her friend’s death.

Robert Mapplethorpe is a familiar London presence but gallerist Alison Jacques — who represents the Mapplethorpe estate in the UK — frames this show around the theme of the impact of a Catholic upbringing and religious iconography on his work.
The exhibition typically mixes surprisingly tender moments — two naked men dancing, a moored rowing boat on a mildly choppy sea — with the sensual erotic and the hardcore.

Of course, there are the usual shockers. But even though the devil rides through — in the demonic horns on several portraits — there are also exquisitely photographed still-lifes, carrying symbolic intentions. A broken loaf, photographed on a mirror, highlights the curvaceous, buttocky outline of the crust.

As with the drooping white tulip pierced by a thorn, sex and religion merge and stretch beyond Catholicism — from the nude black man lying in the shape of the crucifixion to the frogs arranged like a swastika and a self-portrait posed with a gold pentagram.

A shrine-like room closes the exhibition with two classic portraits of Mapplethorpe: in his leather jacket, and seated on a throne in his dying days. Between them, four collages by the 22-year-old Mapplethorpe are drawn from Sunday school prayer-cards. Titled Unity, they are more precious for their place in Mapplethorpe’s journey than their artistic merit. But the 3D box-shrine depicting the lamb of god introduces an unexpected peacefulness.

Until 21 November.
Information: 020 7631 4720;
www.alisonjacquesgallery.com