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Lot Essay
Sister Gertrude Morgan, purportedly born in 1900, lived her life directed by revelations from her Lord. The first of which came to her in 1934 when she was instructed to leave her secular youth, and husband Will Morgan, behind in Columbus, Georgia and preach the gospel. In 1938, another revelation instructed her to embark on a journey preaching in many towns in the rural south; she ultimately settled in New Orleans, a known bastion of sin, in 1939. Here she met and joined Mother Margaret Parker and Sister Cora Williams, creating a mission to preach their loosely organized African-American sect of Christianity. Morgan communicated with God through song, dance, preaching and painting in her self-proclaimed role as the bride of Christ. Around 1960, Morgan was discovered by a local entrepreneur and art dealer E. Lorenz Borenstein, who displayed her artwork at his Associated Artists Studio. Borenstein supported Sister Gertrude Morgan's modest lifestyle so that she could draw, paint and preach (Tools of her Ministry: The Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan, The New Orleans Art Musuem, 14 November 2004- 16 January 2005, https://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa94b.htm).
Remembered for her direct simplified messages, Sister Gertrude Morgan's self-taught style with crayon and pencil developed into more complex compositions including tempera, oil, crayon, pencil and mixed-media. William A. Fagaly describes her mature style: "It was during this period, in 1966, that she began to make pictures representing her concept of the New Jerusalem as recounted in the Book of Revelation. These bright, multicolored paintings, which were to become one of the signatures of her oeuvre, depict what appears to be a modern twelve-story apartment building with the exterior wall eliminated to reveal rooms populated with people and furniture" (An American Anthology: Self-Taught Artist's of the 20th Century (San Francisco, California, 1998), p. 137).
Remembered for her direct simplified messages, Sister Gertrude Morgan's self-taught style with crayon and pencil developed into more complex compositions including tempera, oil, crayon, pencil and mixed-media. William A. Fagaly describes her mature style: "It was during this period, in 1966, that she began to make pictures representing her concept of the New Jerusalem as recounted in the Book of Revelation. These bright, multicolored paintings, which were to become one of the signatures of her oeuvre, depict what appears to be a modern twelve-story apartment building with the exterior wall eliminated to reveal rooms populated with people and furniture" (An American Anthology: Self-Taught Artist's of the 20th Century (San Francisco, California, 1998), p. 137).