: One of the most interesting and original self-taught artists of
the Twentieth Century, Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was a
painter, evangelist, musician and poet who used her diverse
talents to convey her profound religious beliefs. Transcending
cultural barriers between art, institutional religion and
individual spirituality, her art combined the Black tradition of
autonomous religious expression with a remarkable inherent
artistic sensibility.
Diligent and resourceful, Morgan also fashioned and decorated the
cardboard megaphones she used when preaching (such as "Jesus is
my air plane") and hand stitched the individually decorated fans
she offered visitors to her mission.
Morgan believed that her creative genius was God-given and that
this mandated that she use it to serve the Lord and spread the
word. Most of her paintings, therefore, were on religious themes,
often interpretations of passages from the Old and New
Testaments. She frequently wrote messages or quoted scriptural
passages in her pieces, texts that play central roles in the
total composition.
