Background
Horace Pippin was born on February 22, 1888 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. At the age of three, Pippin moved with his family to Goshen, New York, United States.
2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130, United States
In 1940, Pippin attended classes at the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania. The same year, he gave lectures there.
Horace Pippin was born on February 22, 1888 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States. At the age of three, Pippin moved with his family to Goshen, New York, United States.
In his early years, Horace studied at Merry Green Hill School in Goshen. Also, in 1940, Pippin attended classes at the Barnes Foundation in Pennsylvania, the only formal art education he received.
In the early 1900's, Pippin left school to support his ill mother and after her death in 1911, he moved to Paterson, New Jersey. There, Horace was employed, doing odd jobs on a farm. A year later, he began to unload coal to earn his living.
In 1917, Pippin was drafted into the army to serve in the infantry. He was wounded in 1918 and one year later, in 1919, he was discharged with a partially paralyzed right arm. Then, the painter settled down in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and eventually began to paint by burning designs into wood panels with a red-hot poker and then painting in the outlined areas.
In the 1920's, Pippin revived his interest in art. In 1930, he painted his first oil painting, entitled "The End of the War: Starting Home". After the art world discovered Pippin in 1937, his works brought him wide acclaim as the greatest African-American painter of his time. He enjoyed the enthusiastic support of art collectors, such as Christian Brinton, Albert C. Barnes and Edith Halpert, the owner of the New York Gallery in New York City. Also, his work was shown at the landmark exhibition "Masters of Popular Painting", held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1938.
In 1940, Horace gave lectures at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, but his attendance was sporadic and brief. In the 1940's, he became more inventive in his use of colors. A bright example of his work from that period is the portrait of Christian Brinton, where a rich color pattern is used for the necktie and the handkerchief folded in the jacket pocket. In 1943, Pippin painted a grim work, entitled "Crucifixion". Also, many of his works of that period have a poetic, intimate quality. A vivid example of such work is the painting "Saying Prayers", in which two children, about to go to bed, kneel beside their mother. Here, as in much of Pippin's work, is an instinctive feeling for design.
In 1940, 1941 and 1943, the painter held solo exhibitions at Carlen Gallery in Philadelphia. Also, in 1941, he exhibited his works at the Arts Club of Chicago and at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art the following year.
The last painting Pippin worked on was "Man on a Bench".
The Get Away Fox
Amish Letter Writer
The Barracks
The Warped Table Still Life
Victorian Interior
The Woman Taken In Adultery
The Squirrel Hunter
Zachariah
Crucifixion
Dog Fight Over The Trenches
Abe Lincoln, The Good Samaritan
Self-Portrait
Man On A Bench
The Whipping
Victorian Parlor Still Life
Maple Sugar Season
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Self-Portrait
Marian Anderson II
Giving Thanks
Cabin in the Cotton
Birmingham Meeting House III
Man Seated Near Stove
Roses With Red Chair
Mr. Prejudice
Holy Mountain II
Deep Are The Roots
John Brown Going To His Hanging
Interior
Christ Before Pilate
The Buffalo Hunt
West Chester Court House
Cabin In The Cotton III
Shell Holes And Observation Balloon, Champagne Sector
Major-General Smedley D. Butler
Christmas Morning Breakfast
Holy Mountain I
Milk Man Of Goshen
The Temptation Of Saint Anthony
Portrait Of Christian Brinton
The Old Mill
Domino Players
Harmonizing
Study For The Barracks
The Hoe Cake
Quaker Mother And Child
Birmingham Meeting House IV
Holy Mountain III
Two Pink Roses
John Brown Reading His Bible
Victory Garden
Abe Lincoln's First Book
Christ Crowned With Thorns
The Wash
The Trial Of John Brown
Mountain Landscape
The Artist's Wife
Pippin was a member of St. John's African Union Methodist Protestant Church (present-day Olivet Chapel).
Quotations:
"I did not care what or where I went. I asked God to help me, and he did so. And that is the way I came through that terrible and Hellish place. For the whole entire battlefield was hell, so it was no place for any human being to be."
"Pictures just come to my mind and I tell my heart to go ahead."
"My opinion of art is that a man should have love for it, because my idea is that he paints from his heart and mind."
"If a man knows nothing but hard times, he will paint them, for he must be true to himself."
"The war brought out all the art in me."
Quotes from others about the person
"Horace Pippin is a real and rare genius, combining folk quality with artistic maturity so uniquely as almost to defy classification." — Romare Bearden, an artist
In 1920, Pippin married Jennie Ora (Feathershore) Pippin.