Lot 291

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Description:

Horace Bristol
American, 1909-1997
PBY Blister Gunner, Rescue at Rabaul Bay, South Pacific, 1944
Silver gelatin print
Edition 14/75, estate stamp to verso. The candid nude shot of a gunner at his station that may be considered Bristol's tour de force, mounted behind glass in an ebonized frame.

This shot was taken during Bristol's time in the U.S. Naval Aviation Photographic Unit - as part of his work, he ended up being on the plane the pictured gunner was serving on, which was being used to rescue people from Rabaul Bay (New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea), when this occurred. In an article from a December 2002 issue of B&W magazine he remembers:

"… we got a call to pick up an airman who was down in the Bay. The Japanese were shooting at him from the island, and when they saw us they started shooting at us. The man who was shot down was temporarily blinded, so one of our crew stripped off his clothes and jumped in to bring him aboard. He couldn't have swum very well wearing his boots and clothes. As soon as we could, we took off. We weren't waiting around for anybody to put on formal clothes. We were being shot at and wanted to get the hell out of there. The naked man got back into his position at his gun in the blister of the plane."

About the artist: Bristol was a twentieth-century American photographer, best known for his work in Life. His photos appeared in Time, Fortune, Sunset, and National Geographic magazines.
In 1936, Bristol became a part of Life's founding photographers, and in 1938, began to document migrant farmers in California's central valley with John Steinbeck, recording the Great Depression, photographs that would later be called the Grapes of Wrath collection.

In 1941, Bristol was recruited to the U.S. Naval Aviation Photographic Unit, as one of six photographers under the command of Captain Edward J. Steichen, documenting World War II in places such as South Africa, and Japan.

    Dimensions:
  • Sight: 10 3/4 x 10 1/4 in. (27.31 x 26.04 cm.), Frame: 18 1/2 x 18 in. (46.99 x 45.72 cm.)
  • Artist Name:
  • Horace Bristol
  • Medium:
  • Silver gelatin print

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November 19, 2022 10:00 AM CST
St. Louis, MO, US

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