Coral Sea

1983

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

This study of a Midway-class aircraft carrier shows a massive warship not actually floating on the ocean’s surface but seemingly sunken beneath it. The rather minimal photograph is among the rarest and least representative works by Robert Mapplethorpe, who is known mostly for his uncompromising sexual portraits and saturated flower studies, as well as for his mastery of the photographic print tradition. Here, he chose platinum materials to explore the subtle beauty of the medium’s extended mid-gray tones. By rendering prints using the more tactile platinum process, Mapplethorpe hoped to transcend the medium; as he said it is "no longer a photograph first, [but] firstly a statement that happens to be a photograph."

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Coral Sea
Artist: Robert Mapplethorpe (American, New York 1947–1989 New York)
Date: 1983
Medium: Platinum print
Dimensions: Image: 23 1/8 × 19 1/2 in. (58.8 × 49.5 cm)
Frame: 32 × 29 in. (81.3 × 73.7 cm)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Promised Gift of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary
Curatorial Department: Photographs