Looking for a Mapplethorpe photo online
November 17, 2007 12:12 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to find a Mapplethorpe photo online: it's a black&white photo of an aircraft carrier steaming out of San Francisco harbour. Anyone know what I'm talking about? It's grainy greyscale, but the identification of the call numbers stand out beautifully.
I'm familiar with the usual Mapplethorpe online databases...I'm a little schlonged out after so much searching, so any help would be appreciated.
I'm familiar with the usual Mapplethorpe online databases...I'm a little schlonged out after so much searching, so any help would be appreciated.
By any chance are you thinking of this advertisment (by David Lachapelle for Diesel in 1994, with former couple Bob and Rod Jackson-Paris)?
posted by ericb at 1:15 PM on November 17, 2007
posted by ericb at 1:15 PM on November 17, 2007
Response by poster: No, not that advertisement...it's not a typical Mapplethorpe. It's just a grainy gray shot of an aircraft carrier on the ocean in the distance, shot with a telephoto lens to increase the contrast and graininess. But the call numbers on the superstructure are burned into the print. I don't know why, but it was a compelling image that has stayed with me for years.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:28 PM on November 17, 2007
posted by KokuRyu at 1:28 PM on November 17, 2007
Grasping at straws here, but I wonder if it was a photograph that was part of a series -- possibly accompanying his tattered American flag photograph (1977).
posted by ericb at 1:39 PM on November 17, 2007
posted by ericb at 1:39 PM on November 17, 2007
Best answer: I know exactly which photo you're talking about...It's in my Big Book of Mapplethorpe. Hang on, let me see if I can find it...
It's called The Coral Sea, from 1983. I couldn't find a good picture of it, but it appears on the cover of Patti Smith's book of the same name, poems she wrote after he died.
I would love to have a good print of that hanging in my house. (I can say that about a lot of his photos, actually!)
posted by spacewrench at 2:56 PM on November 17, 2007
It's called The Coral Sea, from 1983. I couldn't find a good picture of it, but it appears on the cover of Patti Smith's book of the same name, poems she wrote after he died.
I would love to have a good print of that hanging in my house. (I can say that about a lot of his photos, actually!)
posted by spacewrench at 2:56 PM on November 17, 2007
Best answer: Here's the largest picture of Coral Sea I can find
Is that even the photograph you're looking for?
posted by Gerard Sorme at 3:35 PM on November 17, 2007
Is that even the photograph you're looking for?
posted by Gerard Sorme at 3:35 PM on November 17, 2007
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ericb at 1:07 PM on November 17, 2007