Carefully painted, neither schematic nor stylized, this charming and joyous work was created just as the Reverend Howard Finster’s artistic skills were maturing. The Angel of the Waters is unique among Finster’s paintings on glass in its complexity and depiction of a narrative scene. The source and subject of this imaginative recto/verso piece are unclear. […]
In the 1980s, Howard Finster began reproducing subjects from Renaissance portraits in his work. This bust of Shakespeare, made of concrete and brightly painted, represents a pure, simplified rendering of the traditional bust form. Finster’s sculpture originally resided with other famous personages from history in the front yard of his World’s Folk Art Church.
What is the Soul of Man was probably created in 1976, the first year Finster fully devoted himself to painting and working as an artist. Drawing upon his skills as a charismatic preacher, poet, painter, and visionary, Finster uses this pictorial sermon to describe the creation of Man’s soul.
