35 Items in this Learning Collection
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Untitled (Medusa Marinara)

Accession Number
1999/1.108

Title
Untitled (Medusa Marinara)

Artist(s)
Vik Muniz

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1999

Medium & Support
photograph on glazed porcelain

Dimensions
12 ½ in x 12 ½ in x 1 ¼ in (31.75 cm x 31.75 cm x 3.18 cm);12 ½ in x 12 ½ in x 1 ¼ in (31.75 cm x 31.75 cm x 3.18 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of the Peter Norton Family Foundation

Subject matter
In this work, Vik Muniz humorously appropriates the head of Medusa from Caravaggio’s c. 1597 painting of the snake-haired Gorgon from Greek mythology. Muniz often recreates a well-known image from art history in an untraditional medium, such as sugar, thread, chocolate syrup, or, as in this work, pasta and marinara sauce, and then photographs the final creation. For this creation, Muniz then transposed the photograph on to a ceramic plate. The swriling pasta noodles cleverly describe Medusa's head of snakes and the blood from Caravaggio's painting is rendered in marinara sauce.

Physical Description
A photograph of a female head made of pasta and marinara sauce printed on a porcelain plate. On verso, the plate is numbered "39;" it is labeled part of "The Peter Norton Family Christmas Project" and dated 1999; the manufacturer is labeled "Made in Bernardaud in Limoges, France;" and, below, it reads "Lead Free Dishwasher Safe."

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Additional Object Classification(s)
Ceramic

Additional Object Classification(s)
Decorative Arts

Collection Area
Photography

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
Serpentes (suborder)
art history
food
gorgons
heads (representations)
mythology (literary genre)
myths (literary documents)
plates (timepiece components)

34 Related Resources

Food Cultures
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Greek Cultural Influence
(Part of 4 Learning Collections)
Humorous Appropriation
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
Surreal Photography
(Part of 2 Learning Collections)
W19 Bayraktar - RCCORE 100 - The Art of Everyday Life
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
Youth and Sexuality in the Middle East
(Part of: 2019 Summer Study Sets)
Causes of Disease
(Part of: History of Medicine - American Association of Historians of Medicine (AAHM))
F19 Dorman - ENGLISH 124: Literary Retellings
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
C2 - Fairchild - Metaphysics (brainstorm)
(Part of: Curriculum/Collection)
W20 Dorman - ENGLISH 124: Literary Retellings
(Part of: Resources Made by Isabel Engel)
Curriculum / Collection v2: Docent Module
(Part of: Fall 2021 Docent Exhibition Packet)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved