Untitled

Howard Finster, Untitled, 1988, paint and marker on glass bottle, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.27
Copied Howard Finster, Untitled, 1988, paint and marker on glass bottle, 12 1⁄4 × 6 1⁄2 in. (31.1 × 16.5 cm), diam., Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson, 2016.38.27

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled
Artist
Date
1988
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
12 1⁄4 × 6 1⁄2 in. (31.1 × 16.5 cm), diam.
Credit Line
The Margaret Z. Robson Collection, Gift of John E. and Douglas O. Robson
Mediums Description
paint and marker on glass bottle
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure — fragment — face
  • Object — other — container
Object Number
2016.38.27
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.38.27

Artwork Description

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)