Minneapolis Institute of Art

Jonah and the Whale

John B. Flannagan

Date

1937

Medium

Cast bronze on wood base

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Flannagan's bronze sculpture represents the Old Testament parable of the prophet Jonah, who, having disobeyed God, was cast overboard by his fellow fishermen during a violent storm at sea, swallowed by a whale (fish), and disgorged unharmed three days later after praying for redemption. For Flannagan, the theme of Jonah and the whale embodied more than merely a didactic religious allegory, but a culmination of a lifelong exploration of the universal mysteries of life, death, and rebirth, a motif common among his mature works. Here, in an unconventional and highly personal interpretation, he depicts Jonah within the belly of the whale, enclosed as if in a womb, awaiting rebirth to the world of the living. United States, Americas

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