All photographs & illustrated charts are copyright 2011 Turtel Onli and are presented in this blog for educational purposes. Professional or collector concerns should be directed to the Lindsay Gallery or to Turtel Onli. Contact info for both are listed in other posts on this blog.

This is a detail from "Rome". This chart shows the suffering experienced

by early Christians under the oppression of the Roman Empire.

REV. SAMUEL DAVID PHILLIPS

"One of the most important things to know about the teaching charts of Rev. Samuel David Phillips is that they were not created to be viewed as art. Rev. Phillips was operating in a long Evangelical tradition of chart making that dates back into the mid 1800s. Evangelical Christian groups such as the Adventists and Millerites originally created charts to predict what they believed to be the imminent return of Christ to the earth.

For Rev. Phillips the charts had a more earthly function, to illustrate his sermons to his flock at the Progressive Pentecostal Mission of Chicago. His intent was to help his congregation better understand the bible and how it impacted many things that were happening in the world. But it’s how he depicted those messages that make the charts rise to the level of great folk art, rather than simple biblical illustration.

These charts crackle with an over-the-top energy fueled by aggressive pattering and bursts of motion. Angels share the sky with bombs, Jonah’s whale swims next to modern ships, demons share the roadway with automobiles … creating a visionary explosion meant to inspire parishioners.

That inspiration still works today, no matter the viewers beliefs. This is pure folk art, the “real thing”, made from the materials at hand and meant to be used. While pictorially simple, these charts have an impact that is much greater than the sum of their parts… foreshadowing the work of religious visionaries such as Sister Gertrude Morgan and Rev. Howard Finster. "

By Duff Lindsay

The Lindsay Gallery will be showcasing a selection of important

charts by the late Rev. Samuel David Phillips at the Outsider Art Fair 2012 in NY.