Editing Horses (album) (section)

==Artwork==
[[File:Gustave Courbet 033.jpg|alt=A painting of Charles Baudelaire|thumb|right|A portrait of [[Charles Baudelaire]], whose fashion Smith emulated in the ''Horses'' cover photograph]]

The cover photograph for ''Horses'' was taken by Robert Mapplethorpe at the [[Greenwich Village]] penthouse apartment of his partner [[Sam Wagstaff]].{{sfn|Smith|2010b|pp=249–253}}{{sfn|Thorgerson|Powell|1999|p=74}} Smith, shrouded in natural light, is seen wearing a plain white shirt, which she had purchased at a [[The Salvation Army|Salvation Army]] shop on the [[Bowery]], and slinging a black jacket over her shoulder and her favorite black ribbon around her collar.{{sfn|Smith|2010b|pp=249–253}}{{sfn|Thorgerson|Powell|1999|p=74}} Embedded on the jacket is a horse pin that Allen Lanier had given her.{{sfn|Smith|2010b|pp=249–253}} Smith described her appearance as recalling those of French poet [[Charles Baudelaire]] and, in the slinging of the jacket, American singer and actor [[Frank Sinatra]].<ref name="Kot">{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2014/10/24/patti-smith-on-literary-heroes-role-models-and-sinatra/ |title=Patti Smith on literary heroes, role models and Sinatra |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=October 24, 2014 |access-date=April 21, 2021 |last=Kot |first=Greg |author-link=Greg Kot}}</ref> She recounted that Mapplethorpe "took, like, twelve pictures, and at about the eighth one, he said, 'I have it.' I said, 'How do you know?' and he said, 'I just know,' and I said, 'Okay.' And that was it."<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/music/pop/15172/ |title=Influences: Patti Smith |magazine=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] |date=November 22, 2005 |access-date=October 20, 2020 |last=Milzoff |first=Rebecca}}</ref>

The black-and-white treatment and [[androgyny|androgynous]] pose were a departure from the typical promotional images of female singers of the time.{{sfn|Morrisroe|1995|p=187}} Arista executives wanted to make various changes to the photograph, but Smith overruled their suggestions.{{sfn|Thorgerson|Powell|1999|p=74}} Clive Davis wrote in 2013 that he was initially conflicted about the image, recognizing its "power" but feeling that it would confuse audiences unfamiliar with Smith and her style of music.{{sfn|Davis|DeCurtis|2013|p=225}} He put aside his reservations and approved the cover after realizing that he needed "to trust her artistic instincts thoroughly".{{sfn|Davis|DeCurtis|2013|p=225}}

[[Feminism|Feminist]] writer [[Camille Paglia]] later referred to the ''Horses'' cover photograph as "one of the greatest pictures ever taken of a woman."{{sfn|Paglia|1992|p=45}} In 2017, ''[[World Cafe (radio program)|World Cafe]]'' presenter [[Talia Schlanger]] wrote that "Smith's unapologetic androgyny predates a time when that was an en vogue or even available option for women, and represents a seminal moment in the reversal of the [[female gaze]]. Smith is looking at you, and could care less {{sic}} what you think about looking at her. That was radical for a woman in 1975. It is still radical today."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538307314/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women-page-15 |title=Turning The Tables: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women |publisher=NPR |date=July 24, 2017 |access-date=June 5, 2021 |page=15}}</ref> Smith herself stated that she had not intended to make a "big statement" with the cover, which she said simply reflected the way she dressed.<ref name="Kot"/> "I wasn't thinking that I was going to break any boundaries. I just like dressing like Baudelaire," she remarked in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |title=Woman as warrior and mystic |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=June 22, 1996 |last=Bracewell |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Bracewell (writer)}}</ref>