Artist Name:
Howard Finster
Nationality & Life Dates:
American, 1916–2001
Title:
Gospel Bike, #1,776
Date:
ca. 1980
Medium:
Enamel on bicycle
Dimensions:
37 x 52 x 26 1/2 inches
Credit Line:
Norfolk Southern Collection of Self-Taught Art
Accession Number:
1995.174
On View - Stent Family Wing, Skyway Level, Gallery 408
After Finster retired his bicycle repair tools and memorialized them in a section of the Garden’s sidewalk, his bicycle lingered as a reminder of the trade Finster practiced before being called to make “sacred art.” Gospel Bike became a rolling sermon—Finster’s perfect vehicle for carrying the Word. Celestial towers, tiny angels, names, and scriptures fill every space, with a portrait of Jesus protecting the seat and a serpent riding on the wheel guard.