Howard FINSTER, Television painted, 1989
Le Révérend Howard Finster (1916-2001) est une des figures les plus connues de l'art naïf américain. Après avoir occupé diverses professions telles que plombier, commerçant, charpentier ou réparateur de bicyclette, il devint prédicateur en Géorgie et en Alabama. En 1960, il crée à Pennsville (Georgia) un "jardin du Paradis" (Paradise Garden) visant à illustrer le texte biblique. En 1976, à l'âge de 60 ans, après avoir, selon son récit, reçu la visite d'un ange qui lui aurait dit "Paint sacred art" ("Peins de l'art sacré !"), il décide de se consacrer à la peinture pour propager sa foi.
Sa peinture est caractérisée par la représentation naïve, bi-dimensionnelle, très colorée, de motifs religieux ou de mythes américains, tels que George Washington, Elvis Presley ou la bouteille de Coca-Cola..
Le poste de télévision peint que nous présentons ici est apparu, peu de temps après la mort de l'artiste (survenue en octobre 2001) dans les ventes aux enchères de E-Bay. Il s'agit d'un poste de télévision peint orné de versets bibliques, que Finster aurait réalisé en 1989 pour célébrer le cinquantenaire de l'inauguration du premier service américain de télévision par le President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Il ne nous est pas possible de déterminer si le poste mis en vente est véritablement une oeuvre de Howard Finster, mais son vendeur, un certain Pierce, qui nous a aimablement autorisé à reproduire ses photos de l'oeuvre, donne les précisions suivantes :
"This beautiful large hand painted television from Howard Finster is "Museum
Quality". It was purchased at auction in New York 10 years ago by a fine art
collector on one of his many visits there. He had to fight a museum in New
York to get this one of a kind item. This collector has been the only owner of
this wonderful television as it came from Finster's studio and straight to auction
in New York. The owner has kept it in protected storage at the J. Paul Getty Museum storage facility in Los Angeles for the last 10 years since it's
purchase.
It is an authentic Howard Finster item and not a reproduction. I realize that collectors are pretty wary now due to
numerous (and fairly convincing) knockoffs by Howard's enterprising grandchildren. This T.V. is authentic and is from the end of when Finster's
really good works were produced.
He has signed this piece in three places and it's dated April 29, 1989. He also
marked this with his item number of 10.000.676 (see
photos)
This TV is loaded with angels and clouds and scripture and doodles. The front
says, "T.V.s 50th year - Today April 29, 1989- First Broadcast at the New York
Worlds Fair - 1939 - Broadcast was Presedent Rosevelt - speaking to the people" (he spelled "President Roosevelt" wrong). The top has multi-colored
cloud like faces with airplanes and a helicopter and a spaceship. Under these
characters he's written "Finger Rubbed Art by Howard Finster". Every side of
this television (except the bottom) is covered with religious scripture and
preaching and whimsical writing and designs. This writing looks to be done
with a black marker.
The front of the television has a large protective shield that covers the glass TV
screen behind it. Finster removed this front piece, painted the actual glass TV
screen, then replaced this clear cover and painted it as well. This gives a double
layer effect that adds a wonderful "3 D" depth and dimension to this piece.
Because this beautiful art TV has been kept and stored very well over the years, it is in excellent condition. The colors and brush strokes are very bold
and vibrant. This is a very wonderful, and one of a kind, museum quality piece
that will display very nicely.
This television measures 13" wide by 10 ½" tall (not including the top handle)
and is 17" deep. "
Sites consacrés à Howard Finster :
Histoire
de la télévision © A.
Lange
Dernière mise à jour : 04 janvier 2002