Artist:

Howard Finster, born Valley Head, AL 1916-died Rome, GA 2001  Search this

Medium:

paint and marker on glass bottle

Dimensions:

12 1/4 × 6 1/2 in. (31.1 × 16.5 cm), diam.

Type:

Sculpture

Folk Art

Date:

1988

Exhibition Label:

Howard Finster often recounted how his callings as preacher and artist converged. "One day I was workin' on a patch job on a bicycle, and I was rubbin' some white paint on that patch with this finger here, and I looked at the round tip o' my finger, and there was a human face on it,” he said. “Then a warm feelin' come over my body, and a voice spoke to me and said, 'Paint sacred art.'” Many of Finster’s artworks evoke this memory through tiny faces interspersed with the Word of God, combining the artist’s visual evangelism and creative practice.

(We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)

Topic:

Figure\fragment\face  Search this

Object\other\container  Search this

Credit Line:

Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson

Object number:

2016.38.27

Restrictions & Rights:

Usage conditions apply

See more items in:

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department:

Painting and Sculpture

Data Source:

Smithsonian American Art Museum

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk70b7ab934-bbbf-43d7-ad8b-2ec9b76a5f4f

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:saam_2016.38.27