35 Items in this Learning Collection
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Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

The Underworld

Accession Number
1981/2.176

Title
The Underworld

Artist(s)
Ann McCoy

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1980

Medium & Support
hand colored lithograph on paper

Dimensions
42 in x 30 in (106.68 cm x 76.2 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Professor and Mrs. Edward J. Mitchell

Subject matter
Part of a diptych (UMMA 1981/2.177), this lithograph belongs to a larger series of works that depict imagery of the underworld. McCoy claims that this series was inspired by a dream she had in which she visited the underworld land of a medieval cult, the Bogomils, who believed the world was actually created by the devil. As reflected in this work, McCoy dreamt of this world full of bizarre complexes and corpses. For her, underwater worlds and the classical underworld often meld into one, thus bringing together the images of sea creatures, demons, and the galaxies.

Physical Description
This print shows a chaotic scene with a white skeleton in the center. In the upper left, there are a series of sea creatures, including a grey colored shark, pink colored squids and two octopuses in shades of orange. At the bottom of the print, the skeleton is surrounded by a large lizard, skulls, and other figures. A moon and stars are in the upper left corner. The print is signed (l.r.) "Underground Ann McCoy" and numbered "18/100" in red pencil.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Surrealism
abstraction
dreams
modern and contemporary art
sea monsters
underworld (doctrinal concept)

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& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved