Henry Stone met Elder Anderson Johnson on a street corner in Overtown in the early 1950’s and recorded him for his Glory and DeLuxe labels. Little did he know that Rev. Johnson would spend forty years on the open road playing gospel music, then become a religious painter collected in homes and museums around the world. It’s all in this great new book by Yvonne Johnson Carter Ph.D. and Vernon L. Carter Jr: A Man Inspired by God: The Art, Music, and Ministry of Elder Anderson Johnson.
The book features an excellent passage on how Stone and Johnson met and worked together, as well as a prime description of the correlations and differences between Johnson’s style of gospel and the blues of Robert Johnson. You will see great photographs and full color reproductions of Johnson’s remarkable work, as well as interpretations of his symbology and visual language.
It is an awesome book that cites one of the books Jacob Katel wrote with Henry Stone, and offers an excellent history of an important artist with a very interesting faith driven life. Check out this press release and make sure to buy this great book!!!
J.C. Publishing Releases Debut Title
A Man Inspired by God: The Art, Music, and Ministry of Elder Anderson Johnson
Arlington,Virginia, 07/07/2020 – What happens to a little boy who is struck by lightning and knocked unconscious when he is just eight years old? Young Anderson Johnson immediately began preaching after he was hit by lightning during a terrible thunderstorm in a cornfield in Lunenburg, Virginia. He became a child prodigy, and as early as age twelve, he pastored a church in Vineland, New Jersey. A couple of years later, he joined the Ivy Avenue United House of Prayer in Newport News, Virginia, became a protégé to Bishop Charles M. Grace, and established places of worship from New York to Florida for the House of Prayer. As Johnson matured, he became an exceptional evangelist, a remarkable musician, and a gifted self-taught artist who boldly professed his faith in God. This book traces Johnson’s life from his childhood in Virginia to his solo expeditions across the United States. As a free-spirited traveling evangelist, musician, and gospel singer, Anderson Johnson journeyed throughout the United States singing, preaching, and spreading the word of God.
After traveling more than forty years, Johnson returned to Virginia, looked back over his life, and reassessed his ministry. He comprehended that his faith had sustained him throughout his life, and he decided his new mission was to teach others how to live by faith. He established the Faith Mission, gradually filled the sanctuary with thousands of paintings, and eventually became an outstanding, self-taught artist. God inspired him to support himself by displaying and selling his art. Patrons in the United States and abroad visited his Faith Mission, and he sold his paintings throughout the nation and as far away as Britain, Israel, and Germany. Elder Johnson passed away in 1998. Today, much of his artwork is permanently housed in the Anderson Johnson Gallery at the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center in Newport News.
The book is available for purchase online at https://gorhamprinting.com/book/a-man-inspired-by-God. If you prefer to order the book by mail, send a check or money order in the amount of $29.95 payable to Vernon L. Carter at P.O. Box 2122, Arlington, Virginia 22202. To arrange a book signing or an interview, send an email to yjcarter@verizon.net or call 202 465-2232.