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Two whaling ships meet out at sea, one named after an Indigenous American tribe and the other after the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, the latter set upon by a malignant epidemic and a sailor gone mad with the belief that he is the Archangel Gabriel. Both ships are plagued, one by sickness and the other by obsession, and neither heeds the warnings of the mad prophet. Built out in layers of paper that have been printed using techniques like lithography and etching, this colossal print by Frank Stella employs careful color against warping black and white grids to give the impression of control slowly slipping and giving way to chaos. Photos don’t give this piece proper justice; it is carefully collaged in purposeful layers that constantly pull the eye in every direction and the viewer closer and closer in.
The Pequod Meets the Jeroboam: Her Story from the Moby Dick Series
Frank Stella, American (1936)
Date: 1993
Color lithograph, etching, aquatint, mezzotint, and relief on TGL handmade paper, signed, dated, and numbered in pencil
Edition of 20/20
Size: 70 x 65.25 in. (177.8 x 165.74 cm)
Frame Size: 78.5 x 73 inches
Printer: Styria Studio
Publisher: Tyler Graphics Ltd.
Reference: Axsom 216
