Skip Navigation

PBY Blister Gunner

Horace Bristol

Photography

The naked figure in this photograph can seem incongruous, even surreal, without its historical context. During World War II, a PBY amphibian aircraft was sent to rescue a Marine airman who had been shot down while attacking Japanese forces at Rabaul Harbor. With the airman temporarily blinded and helpless in the water, the gunner from the rescue plane stripped down, getting rid of his encumbering flight suit and boots, dove into the water, and brought the injured man on board. In a combat situation, under enemy fire, the gunner had no time to get dressed again before returning to his battle station.
MEDIUM Gelatin silver print
DATES 1944, printed later
DIMENSIONS image: 10 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (26.7 x 24.8 cm) sheet: 13 7/8 x 10 3/4 in. (35.2 x 27.3 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed on verso in pencil: "Horace Bristol"
COLLECTIONS Photography
ACCESSION NUMBER 1994.77
CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Harry Kahn, and Mrs. Carl L. Selden
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Horace Bristol (American, 1908–1997). PBY Blister Gunner, 1944, printed later. Gelatin silver print, image: 10 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (26.7 x 24.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Harry Kahn, and Mrs. Carl L. Selden, 1994.77. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.77_PS9.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1994.77_PS9.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2016
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT © artist or artist's estate
Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
Horace Bristol (American, 1908–1997). <em>PBY Blister Gunner</em>, 1944, printed later. Gelatin silver print, image: 10 1/2 x 9 3/4 in. (26.7 x 24.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Harry Kahn, and Mrs. Carl L. Selden, 1994.77. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.77_PS9.jpg)