72 •
JIM FRENCH (1932-2017)
John Pruitt, Splash.
Silver print, the image measuring 479.4x381 mm; 18 7/8 x15 inches, the sheet slightly larger, with French's signature and edition notation 13/25, in pencil, on verso. 1985; printed mid-1990s

[600/900]

French described his first meeting with Pruitt in 1994: "When John Pruitt was first brought to me he was just finishing a four-year stint in the Marines. . .in his dress whites he was just dazlling. I knew immediately that he was extraordinary and that, given the right circumstances, I could make some wonderful pictures with him." (Mainardi, ed., "Jim French Diaries," p. 232, 264).