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 (1036 items)

William H. Johnson, Young Pastry Cook, ca. 1928-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.693
Young Pastry Cook
Dateca. 1928-1930
oil on canvas
On view
William H. Johnson, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1935-1938, oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.814
Portrait of a Man
Dateca. 1935-1938
oil on burlap
On view
William H. Johnson, Breakdown with Flat Tire, ca. 1940-1941, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.587
Breakdown with Flat Tire
Dateca. 1940-1941
oil on plywood
On view
William H. Johnson, For India and China, ca. 1944-1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.662
For India and China
Dateca. 1944-1945
oil on paperboard
On view