Jonah and the Whale
1936
2 Color Serigraphs and 1 Black and White Lithograph
Serigraphs: 6” x 8 1/2” Card, 12” x 18” Plate
Lithograph: 6” x 8 1/2” Card
Long ago the slaves sang, “If the Lord delivered Jonah from the belly of the whale, He will deliver me.” And these words came true. The Negro race has been delivered from dangers and torments worse than Jonah knew. They have been given a vision of freedom that can finally be complete. Since a troubled soul can be delivered from bondage at any time, Jonah could be cast up from the belly of the whale at Christmas time—symbolic of a new birth.
As the artist explains in her surviving written notes, the story of Jonah is one of the most powerful biblical parables on deliverance from suffering. The artist made three separate printed editions on this theme, and her studies reveal her powerful imagination as she looked at a range of iconic examples, including illuminated manuscripts and a modern-day whale that disgorges not only Jonah but a helicopter too. The final compositions prove the effectiveness of simplicity. A serene young black man kneels within the mouth of the whale as he looks out to his audience on the shore. Jonah and the Whale was a popular print, enjoying immediate success when the larger serigraph was exhibited in the 1937 Paris International Exposition before traveling to Sweden.
