Elmer F. Ekeroth 1918-1994
"Titanic"
Ultra Print
edition limited to 100

image size: 20 in x 16 in
frame size: 24 in x 20 in

This painting was commissioned in the 1970's by Sedona, Arizona, resident Michael O'Hara Stevens. Stevens' grandfather, William O'Hara, had worked as an electrician and machinist on the construction of the R.M.S. Titanic, and had planned to make the maiden voyage from Belfast to New York in April, 1912, with his wife and daughter. But illness kept his family from making the voyage. This was Fate's first intervention.

So O'Hara alone booked cabin class passage from Belfast to New York on the ill-fated maiden voyage. But O'Hara overindulged during the onboard celebration festivities put on by his employers. By the time the Titanic made her first docking at Southhampton, England, he had passed out cold in the main first class lounge. For this unseemly offense he was put ashore. Fate again.

Michael Stevens had other connections to the famous steamer. He was born on April 15 on the 24th anniversity of the sinking. His kindergarten teacher and, later, friend, Bessie Morgan, had been a friend of his grandparents in Ireland. She was onboard when the "unsinkable" ship struck the iceberg. She had met Molly Brown and many of the other famous passengers, and shared with Stevens the horror of those last few hours of the sinking and the rescue of the lucky survivors.

Stevens' fascination with the Titanic led him to commission the late Elmer Ekeroth to paint this excellent and well researched depiction of the doomed luxury liner as she begins her first and last voyage.

Ultra Print uses a photographic processs that closely matches the original art. The Ultra Prints are processed by hand in numbers as few as five at a time. Each Ultra Print is matched to the original art and when necessary color dyes are applied. Close inspection will show that the Ultra Print is dotless, unlike a mechanical offset litho reproduction. A final coat of protective lacquer is appled to give a shield against ultrviolet light, the light that is harmful to color stability.