Howard Finster

Howard Finster was born in Valley Head, Alabama, in 1916, and lived on his three-acre home, called Paradise Garden, in Pennville, Georgia, until his death in 2001.  He experienced visions from the age of three and was a revivalist Baptist preacher for forty years in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.  He received his calling to paint “sacred art” in 1976, when he was retouching a bicycle and a splash of white paint on his finger transformed into a vision.  He went on to create thousands of evangelically patriotic, religious, and heroic paintings and sculptures. His work has been exhibited widely, including shows at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of American Folk Art and the Paine-Webber Gallery in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.  In 1984 he was included in the United States exhibition at the Venice Biennale.  His riotous images, which combine every kind of graphic medium, include “primitive” portraits of such American icons as Elvis Presley, George Washington, and John Kennedy, as well as biblical quotations and texts from his own fiery wisdom.  Tools held a particular fascination for Finster, who considered them the hallmark of civilization and the key to winning the American West.

*Excerpted from Tools as Art: the Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.

www.finster.com/