Sister Gertrude Morgan fashioned paper fanslike this one for people to use during prayer meetings at her EverlastingGospel Mission. During her services, Morgan sang, played guitar or tambourine,and encouraged a call-and-response singing style among attendees. On one sideof this fan, Morgan painted a scene of New Jerusalem, a symbolic, heavenly cityfor the devout, described in the Book of Revelation. On the front-facing side, Morgandepicted herself in nurse’s clothing, conveying her self-chosen role as aspiritual healer of the soul.
(We Are Made of Stories:Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection, 2022)
- Title
-
Fan
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1970
- Location
- Dimensions
- 9 3⁄4 × 8 1⁄2 in. (24.8 × 21.6 cm) irregular
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
- Mediums Description
- paint and ink on card
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Keywords
-
- Figure group
- African-American
- Landscape
- Architecture
- Religion – angel
- Figure female – full length
- Object – written matter – book
- African American
- Object Number
-
2016.38.43R-V
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
