Howard Finster (AL/GA, 1916-2001), The Devil in the Form of a Harmless Duck

Lot Details & Additional Photographs

1983, carved, painted, and assembled wood in the form of a white duck floating on a pond, signed and dated with musings in blue ink to base, the front of base labeled "THE WAY HOWARD FINSTER SEES THINGS IN MYESTRY [sic] EYES."

11 3/4 x 19 x 3 1/4 in.

Private Collection, Chicago and North Carolina

Inscription to base reads:

"The devil comes soft as water but hard as steel he wants you down but he / want kneel. He puts on a face nice and clean behind the skin he is mean he shows you / pleasure and fun but when trouble comes he runs. He shows you his light which / is black as night by his skeam [sic] he makes you a dream but when you awake you are / in his firey [sic] lake."

One of America’s most recognized outsider artists, Finster was a preacher for 45 years until 1976, when he experienced a vision and afterward began painting, in bright colors, religious art as well as everyday objects such as Coke bottles. The Rev. Howard Finster was born Dec. 2, 1916, in Valley Head, Alabama, and died Oct. 22, 2001, in Summerville, GA. He worked up album covers for R.E.M., Talking Heads and other bands, appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” and welcomed a steady stream of people (from regular folks to the famous, such as artist Keith Haring) who made the pilgrimage to his roadside attraction/folk art environment, Paradise Garden.

Some small areas of paint flecks; otherwise good estate condition.