A black and white city of towers with a diagonal band of text bisecting the town.

City of Morlatia

Artist Rev. Howard Finster (American, 1916 - 2001)

Date1985

Mediumlithograph on paper

DimensionsSheet: 25 × 18 inches (63.5 × 45.7 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase.

Object number1994.7.17

On View

Not on view

Copyright© 2023 Howard Finster / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextIn 1976, Reverend Howard Finster had a vision from God that commanded him to paint sacred art. As one of America’s most widely known and prolific self-taught artists, Finster produced over 46,000 pieces of art before his death in 2001. Born in rural Alabama in 1916, Finster went on to become a preacher, tent revivalist, and “master of 22 different trades” before building Paradise Garden, his roadside tribute to inventors, in Summerville, Georgia. To spread his vision to a wider audience, Finster designed record album covers for rock groups such as R.E.M. and Talking Heads. City of Morlatia epitomizes Finster’s personal cosmology. He saw himself as a sacred artist, tirelessly recording his visionary prophesies and providing glimpses of a celestial outer space world that God revealed to him.

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