Carl Milles
American, born Sweden, 1875 - 1955Jonah and the Whale, 1932
Not on view
Bronze
Dimensions15 × 10 × 8 3/4 in. (38.1 × 25.4 × 22.2 cm)
Bequest of Michael Gorman, 1959.5
Known for his large-scale public sculptures and fountains, Carl Milles is also important for his role in the founding of Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. A one-time student of the renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin, Milles was brought to Cranbrook in 1931 as a professor of advanced sculpture. He continued in residence until 1951, as well as executing over seventy sculptures that are installed throughout the grounds.
Jonah and the Whale was made as a study, or maquette, for a large-scale fountain that Milles was to create for the Cranbrook campus. Milles’s Jonah, emerging from the mouth of a rather small whale, looks very much like a shocked and bewildered Buddha. The whale, awkwardly positioned in a dramatic u-shape, with an upward thrust tail and jutting fins, precariously grasps the disproportionately large Jonah in its outstretched tongue, creating an unbalanced diagonal that lends a great deal of movement to the piece. It also helps to make the composition somewhat comical, apparently an intentional effect. As Milles stated, “I made this fountain to be used in the courtyard in Kingswood. It was the first thing I started here at Cranbrook. When I started it I didn’t know what to do, but wanted to make a joke for the children. I thought it would be right to have Jonah appearing with a surprised look on his face. I like it and would like to do another Jonah - more amusing.”
