Rev. Samuel David Phillips

1890 - 1973

Phillips was an ordained Pentecostal minister who also attended the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago after he migrated to Chicago from Atlanta to leave the oppression of the South.  Using crayons and tempera on oil cloths and window shades, he created more than 70 biblical teaching charts.  Per Duff Lindsay, who presented a grouping of Phillips’ charts at 2012 Outsider Art Fair: “These charts crackle with an over the top energy fueled by aggressive patterning and bursts of motion.  Angels to 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.” Rev. Phillips did not make his charts as art, but as chart making which was a long, evangelical tradition for teaching.  ⁹