The Covid Diaries 45: The Gallery of Everything, Sister Gertrude Morgan

A review of the Gallery of Everything and their exhibition The Everlasting Mission of Sister Gertrude Morgan. In which I fall in love with the gallery space, and have a fabulous time admiring Sister Gertrude’s artworks.

A Foray Into Commercial Gallery Reviews for some Outsider Art

The Salterton Arts Review doesn’t often (ever?) review commercial galleries. Mainly this is because I don’t go to that many of them; my time is spent keeping up with what London’s museums, non-profit art galleries and so on have on offer. I am drawn towards this style of art, however, so knew as soon as I saw the listing that I had to make a trip to the Gallery of Everything to see their exhibition The Everlasting Mission of Sister Gertrude Morgan.

I use the term ‘this style of art’ as the nomenclature in and of itself is a little controversial. You’ve seen the images above – would you call that folk art? Naive art? Outsider art? Art brut? Something else? To me, naive art seems condescending; folk art is something from a specific historical and cultural context; so I tend to lean towards ‘outsider art’, in the sense of artists who have little or no contact with the mainstream art world (thanks Wikipedia!).

The Tale of Sister Gertrude Morgan

So anyway, now we have decided that we’re talking about outsider art, who was Sister Gertrude Morgan, anyway? Well, she was born in Alabama in 1900, and raised in the Southern Baptist church. After a separation from her ‘earthly’ husband, she experienced a calling from God. She then moved to Louisiana, where she began missionary work as a street preacher. It was in the 1940s that she began to be called ‘Sister’, as she worked with two street missionaries who called themselves Mother and Sister respectively. In 1956 after another religious awakening she began to dress in white in preparation for becoming the bride of Christ.

It was from this time that she began to produce artworks in earnest. Her output increased even further after 1966 when God instructed her to produce pictures of the world to come. There were lots of images from the Book of Revelation from this point onwards. As well as these ‘sermons on paper’ she recorded albums of religious music, ran a chapel and a childcare centre. Basically she was a very busy lady! In 1973 another divine revelation told her to stop painting and concentrate on preaching and poetry. And in 1980 Sister Gertrude Morgan died. You can read more about her life and career here.

Who Assigns the Meaning to these Works?

There is something interesting about this and other outsider art which intersects with what I was recently talking about when it comes to Spiritualist art. What is the meaning that the creator of the works assigned to them vs. what meanings have others assigned. And furthermore, who is right? When it comes to Sister Gertude Morgan’s art, she placed much more value on religious significance than artistic merit. She was trying to save souls by channeling onto paper and other media her knowledge of what was to come and the mystical truths that had been revealed to her.

Despite being outsider art in the sense of Sister Gertude not engaging with the mainstream art world, however, this art world increasingly engaged with her later in life. She was a source of fascination and inspiration to Andy Warhol, photographer Lee Friedlander and others. She even had an exhibition at the Folk Art Museum in New York in 1973. Shortly after this came the divine edict to stop painting and focus on other aspects of her missionary work.

This exhibition, however, is very much about the works as art. They are framed and displayed much as any intentional artist’s works would be, and largely disconnected from their religious inspiration. Although a space in the basement recreates a small ‘chapel’ with some of Gertude’s music playing and photographs projected onto the far wall. I guess ultimately if the artistic establishment decides you’re art, then you’re art!

Final Thoughts on the Gallery of Everything

And lastly a little word about the Gallery of Everything. I am fascinated by this concept, so investigated the gallery and the related Museum of Everything further. According to their website and materials, the Gallery of Everything is ‘London’s first dedicated space for non-academic and private artmaking’. Profits go to support the Museum of Everything, the charitable branch which celebrates and champions artists and makers ‘beyond the cultural mainstream’. A really interesting niche they have carved out for themselves there! I will follow with interest any other exhibitions or events that they put on.

In the meantime, I advise everyone to go to see The Everlasting Gospel Mission of Sister Gertrude Morgan. Not only for the art but to admire the fabulous exhibition space. Until recently I think, 4 Chiltern Street was Mario’s Barber Shop (specialists in cutthroat shaving), and very little has been done to turn it into a gallery. There are beautiful parquet floors, a steep staircase down to the additional exhibition space downstairs, what looks like the former back room with original wallpaper and other features. The impression of a secret and timeless space is the perfect counterpoint to the content the Gallery of Everything displays. Providing they are able to reopen after Lockdown 2.0 for the last week or so of the show, do get along if you can!

On its own merits: 4.5/5
Implementing Covid rules: 4/5

The Everlasting Gospel Mission of Sister Gertrude Morgan until 20 December 2020