Gertrude Morgan facts for kids

Sister Gertrude Morgan (born Gertrude Williams, April 7, 1900 – July 8, 1980) was a talented African-American artist, musician, poet, and preacher. She taught herself all these skills. Born in LaFayette, Alabama, she moved to New Orleans in 1939. She lived and worked there until she passed away in 1980. Sister Morgan became famous for her folk art paintings during her lifetime. Her artwork has been shown in many important art exhibitions since the 1970s.

Early Life and Beginnings

Sister Morgan was born Gertrude Williams in LaFayette, Alabama. Her parents were Frances "Fannie" and Edward Williams. She was the seventh child in a family that didn't have much money.

For reasons we don't know, Sister Morgan left school before finishing third grade. Around 1917, her family moved to Columbus, Georgia. There, she worked helping families in their homes as a nursemaid.

Marriage and Moving On

Gertrude Williams married Will Morgan on February 12, 1928. They lived together in Columbus, Georgia. There's no record of a divorce, but Sister Morgan left Columbus by herself in 1938. She first traveled to Alabama and then settled in New Orleans.

Her Call to Religion

Early Church Involvement

Sister Morgan first became involved with religion in her late teens. She joined the Rose Hill Memorial Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia. After she started painting in 1956, Sister Morgan painted about this time in her life. Two of her paintings are called THE ROSE HILL MEMORiAL BAPTiST CHURCH, Columbus Ga. and Rose Hill Memorial Baptist Church. These paintings show changes in the church's leaders after Reverend Miller died in 1930.

Special Messages from God

In 1934, Gertrude had her first special message, or "revelation," from God. She wrote about this on one of her paintings, 1324 NO AVE COLUMBUS GA. She wrote that she heard a strong voice say, "I'll make thee as a signet for I have chosen thee." This happened on December 30, 1934. She felt she had to answer this call and eventually leave everything to follow it.

In 1938, she had another revelation. A voice told her, "Go-o-o-o-o, Preacher, tell it to the World." That year, she left Columbus. She went to Opelika, Alabama, then to Mobile, and possibly Montgomery. She worked as a nursemaid in Opelika and Mobile. During this time, she might have also started working as a healer and street preacher.

Helping Children in New Orleans

When Sister Gertrude arrived in New Orleans in 1939, she met Mother Margaret Parker and Sister Cora Williams. These two women were part of a faith movement called Holiness and Sanctified. Music, singing, and dancing were very important to them. The three women soon started a mission and orphanage at Mother Parker's house. It was located at 533 Flake Avenue, on the edge of New Orleans. They raised money for the orphanage by preaching and performing in the streets.

The three women wore black robes. They gave shelter to as many as twenty orphans and runaway children at a time. In Sister Gertrude's paintings, they are shown in their black robes with white collars, cuffs, and waist ties. The area was quite rural, so they raised animals and grew vegetables around the large house. They held neighborhood parties at the orphanage. There, the "Prophetesses" (as Sister Morgan called them) would play the piano, drums, cymbals, and tambourines. Besides street preaching, they also visited people in jail to offer spiritual guidance. They also traveled to other towns in Louisiana and Texas for church events. Sister Morgan worked at the orphanage until 1957.

The Everlasting Gospel Mission

Doorway of Sister Gertrude's former home/mission in the Lower 9th Ward, 2007.

After leaving the orphanage, Sister Morgan lived in different houses. Most were in the Lower Ninth Ward, a historic African American neighborhood in New Orleans. She eventually settled at 5444 North Dorgenois Street in the Lower Ninth. She lived in a small house with the owner, Jennie Johnson. People said the lawn was covered in four-leaf clovers. Sister Morgan named the house the "Everlasting Gospel Mission." She turned the first room into a prayer room where she gave sermons. Her paintings decorated the white walls of the prayer room. It also had a small desk, musical instruments, and her painted paper megaphones that she used for preaching.

After her death, Morgan's former house remained a neighborhood landmark. Like the rest of the neighborhood, it was badly damaged by the big flood during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The damaged house was taken apart, hoping it could be fixed. But it was later torn down completely.

The Bride of Christ

In 1957, Sister Morgan received another special message from God. In a dream, she heard a voice tell her she was the Bride of Christ. After this, she stopped wearing her black missionary robes. Instead, she started wearing all white clothes. This included a nurse's uniform, a peaked nurse's cap, and matching white shoes.

Her Amazing Artwork

In 1956, Sister Gertrude Morgan received another message from God. This time, it told her to paint. She believed painting was a way to serve God, just like her music was. Sister Morgan used her early paintings to help with her sermons and teachings, especially with children. Her paintings mostly showed religious scenes, illustrating stories from the Bible. The Book of Revelation was very important to her. She painted scenes from it again and again.

Her Unique Style

Like other artists who taught themselves, Sister Morgan used simple shapes to draw people. Her art doesn't use fancy techniques like making things look far away or showing light and shadow. This makes her paintings look flat and two-dimensional. She painted and drew using many different materials. These included acrylics, tempera paint, ballpoint pens, watercolors, crayons, colored pencils, and felt-tip markers. She used cheap materials she had around her. She painted on paper, toilet paper rolls, plastic pitchers, paper megaphones, scrap wood, lampshades, paper fans, and styrofoam trays. Because she taught herself and used these materials and style, her art is called naive, folk, visionary, or outsider art.

What She Painted About

Sister Morgan first made her artworks to go along with her gospel teachings. So, her paintings often have Bible verses and gospel song lyrics written on them. Her paintings about her childhood, early adult life, and first years in New Orleans also tell stories of specific events. These often show her preaching activities.

Morgan especially loved the Book of Revelation. She is most famous for her paintings of New Jerusalem. She always showed the holy city of New Jerusalem "coming down from God out of heaven" as a tall apartment building. In some of her New Jerusalem paintings, a choir of angels from different races fills the sky. This choir of angels appears in many of her paintings. Sometimes they are just one part of a picture, and other times they are the main subject.

Another common image in her work is a self-portrait of herself as the Bride of Christ. She is shown riding with Jesus in an airplane. This might be a reference to the hymn "Oh, Jesus Is My Air-o-plane." Another hymn, "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me," also has a similar idea of Jesus as a pilot.

In her later work, the words she wrote on her paintings became more important. Her pictures became simpler, and sometimes there were no images at all.

Sister Morgan signed her paintings with many different names. Some of them were Black Angel, Lamb Bride, Nurse to Doctor Jesus, Everlasting Gospel Revelation Preacher, Bride of Christ, and Little Ethiopia Girl.

Her Art Career

Around 1960, an art dealer named Larry Borenstein met Sister Morgan. She was preaching in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He invited her to perform and show her art in his gallery. He had found her shouting on a street corner with a paper megaphone. Borenstein helped people discover her work. He showed her paintings to collectors, artists, museums, and galleries. Lee Friedlander and Andy Warhol both liked her work. Warhol sometimes wrote to her, and Friedlander took photos of Sister Morgan.

In 1970, the poet and performer Rod McKuen was a fan and collector of Morgan's art. He used thirteen of her drawings in a book of Bible quotes called God's Greatest Hits. This book sold over 300,000 copies!

One of her tempera and paint drawings from God's Greatest Hits is now kept at the Smithsonian's Evans-Tibbs Collection.

Major Art Shows

In 1970, Sister Morgan's work was shown at the Arts and Science Centre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In 1973, her art was part of an exhibition called Louisiana Folk Paintings. This show was at the Museum of American Folk Art (now the American Folk Art Museum) in New York. The exhibit featured over 75 of Sister Morgan's paintings. It also showed art by fellow visionary artists Clementine Hunter and Bruce Brice. Also in 1973, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) showed Sister Morgan's work for the first time. This show was called Naive Art in Louisiana.

In 1982, a big exhibition called Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980 featured twenty artists, including Sister Morgan. It had almost 400 paintings and sculptures. It opened at the Corcoran Museum of Art and then traveled to many other museums across the United States.

In 2004, the first large show just about Morgan's work opened. It was called The Tools of Her Ministry: the Art of Sister Gertrude Morgan. It opened at the Folk Art Museum in New York City. This exhibition then traveled to NOMA and later to The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago. A book with essays about her work was also published with the exhibition.

Why She Stopped Painting

Sister Morgan's art made her famous, and she reportedly enjoyed it but also felt a bit unsure about it. In 1973, she announced that God had told her to stop painting. She said she needed to focus on her preaching and poetry instead. In 1974, she reportedly said, "Painting now? Oh no. I'm way too worried. Worrying about what time it is and praying on people's cases."

Her Music

Music was another important way Sister Morgan shared her message. In the early 1970s, an album called Let's Make A Record was made. It captured Morgan singing and playing her tambourine. In 2004, the original album was released again by Preservation Hall Recordings.

In 2005, a new album called King Britt presents Sister Gertrude Morgan was released. This album took her original singing and tambourine recordings and added modern beats and instruments. The album got great reviews and introduced Sister Gertrude Morgan to a new, younger audience. Her paintings were used for the album artwork.

Recorded Works

• Morgan, Gertrude. Let's Make a Record. Preservation Hall Recordings, 2004.
• Britt, King, and Gertrude Morgan. King Britt Presents Sister Gertrude Morgan. Ropeadope, 2005.

Her Passing

On July 8, 1980, Sister Morgan died peacefully in her sleep at her home in the Lower Ninth Ward. Her funeral was arranged by Larry Borenstein. A service was held where her artwork was displayed, and her album Let's Make a Record was played.

See also

• Outsider art