Details

Title

Gospel Bike, #1,776

Artist/Maker

Howard Finster (American, 1916–2001)

Date

ca. 1980

Medium

Enamel on bicycle

Dimensions

37 x 52 x 26 1/2 inches

Credit

Norfolk Southern Collection of Self-Taught Art

Accession #

1995.174

On View

Currently not on view

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.