This painting is called The Organ and it was inspired by the pipe organ at the First Baptist Church on Jackson St. in downtown Jackson.

Curtis wrote “I remember going with my mother often while she practiced the organ. When she played Bach I had the feeling the church might be shattered. This organ was a real pipe organ and the largest I’d ever been close to. I later never could understand how she could play that so easily and never was able to drive a car.”

The Organ is described in Philip C. Curtis: Sound and Silence “as eerily detached from its environment, the image of an organ floats above a desert landscape. Behind the organ a stormy night sky hosts a pale yellow moon. Despite the suggestion of three dimensionality indicated by the shadow on the ground beneath the organ, the torn and curling edges around the organ suggest its 3-dimensional quality is an illusion.”

When Phil Curtis’ father died he painted angels high on the alter in honor of his father. You can see them today along with the beautiful organ.