Let’s Make a Record

Sister Gertrude Morgan, Let's Make a Record, 1971, tempera, acrylic, pencil, and ink on paperboard (album cover) vinyl (record), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, 1981.136.5A-B
Sister Gertrude Morgan, Let's Make a Record, 1971, tempera, acrylic, pencil, and ink on paperboard (album cover) vinyl (record), Album cover: 12 3812 12 in. (31.431.8 cm) Record: 11 78 in. (30.2 cm) diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak, 1981.136.5A-B

Artwork Details

Title
Let’s Make a Record
Date
1971
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
Album cover: 12 3812 12 in. (31.431.8 cm) Record: 11 78 in. (30.2 cm) diam.
Credit Line
Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak
Mediums Description
tempera, acrylic, pencil, and ink on paperboard (album cover) vinyl (record)
Classifications
Subjects
  • Religion — angel
  • Object — written matter
  • Performing arts — music — voice
  • Figure group
Object Number
1981.136.5A-B

Artwork Description

Around the time Sister Gertrude Morgan made this record album, she remarked "You can hear my singing all over the neighborhood!" Morgan was equal parts musician, painter, poet, and evangelist. She saw creative expression as a powerful means of communicating her faith, spreading the Word of God, and energizing her own sanctified journey.

In Let's Make a Record, Morgan's title plays with the flexible meaning of "record," both an action and a result. With help from her advocate and gallerist E. Lorenz Borenstein, she recorded gospel hymns and original compositions that conveyed her spiritual joy in a lasting, effective, and far-reaching way. Onto album covers printed with track titles and "True Believer Records," Morgan hand-painted herself, her brethren, and biblical passages. Although Morgan's expressively scrawled words are sometimes hard to make out, her passion and personalized style always ring clear.

Works by this artist (4 items)

Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13
The Children
Date1950
ink and graphite on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.14, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.15, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Hasty B, 1970, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1979.155.1
Hasty B
Date1970
lithograph on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Lee Godie, To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat), 1960s, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.22
To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat)
Date1960s
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view
Barry Dalgleish, Interior with Trunk, 1984, acrylic and oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.84.2
Interior with Trunk
Date1984
acrylic and oil on canvas
Not on view
Stanley Edwards, Infant in Altar IV, 1965, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.24
Infant in Altar IV
Date1965
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view