Jonah
Title
Jonah
Description
Here, a child’s toy figure is swallowed by a taxidermy bass amidst a riot of paper waves in a re-telling of the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale. The source material for the collage backdrop includes nineteenth-century Japanese and American prints; the latter was published under the title “American Maelstrom” in the satirical newspaper Puck, and depicts the ship of state in peril. Fichter’s allegories and allusions are multi-dimensional and open to many narrative interpretations. Is Fichter’s Jonah being saved from the storm (as in the Bible’s version) or eaten alive?
Creator
Robert W. Fichter
Date
1980
Identifier
Coll132-P041
Original Format
Polaroid print
Physical Dimensions
21 1/2 x 29 in.
Collection
Citation
Robert W. Fichter, “Jonah,” Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery, accessed April 26, 2024, https://umbcgallery.omeka.net/items/show/144.