Horace Pippin
"Of all American painters, Horace Pippin comes closest to John Kane, but at times his painting definitely has more charm than any of Kane's canvases can boast," judged Robert M. Coates of the New Yorker. He also claimed that Pippin's work was "precise, sharply drawn, and minutely detailed... a kind of natural sophistication in the use of color that is at times surprising." Besides the description of his artwork, Pippin was said to be "a tall, broad, open-faced man with a flashing smile and a hearty laugh." He was also a warm, religious person. Horace Pippin was born on February 22, 1888, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of slaves and the son of domestic workers. His family moved to Goshen, New York when he was 3 years old. Pippin grew up sketching the world around him and would illustrate his spelling words in school. But his family could not afford art materials. At age ten, he won a box of crayons in a magazine drawing contest and started coloring. He left school at age 14 to work at a hotel where his mother had been a maid. His bos
His war experiences were the main subjects for his early works. The artist's humbly eloquent letter about his picture reveals its biblical inspiration and the passionate hope for peace, which motivated him. Pippin became more and more well known. He made 75 paintings during the last years of his life. He fought for many months in the frontline trenches in the Argonne Forest with the celebrated Black Regiment, 369th Infantry, called the "Harlem Hell Fighters. A major boost for his career was when he acquired an art dealer, who provided quality materials and organized exhibitions. Barnes believed that "given the opportunity, he [Pippin] will become one of the most important painters of our era. s was so impressed with a portrait that Horace made of him; he wanted to send young Horace to art school. When America entered World War I, Pippin, who was 29, enlisted in the Army. These vividly document the exposure to cold, rain, gunfire, confusion, and death. He had a steel plate in his shoulder and his right arm was almost paralyzed. Pippin's painting, The Holy Mountain was chosen in 1945 for inclusion in the Encyclopedia Brittanica collection of twentieth century American art. Pippin began experimenting with charcoal drawing and then tried burning images on wood panels by holder a hot poker. In 1938, when he was around 50, the Museum of Modern Art included four of Pippin's paintings in a traveling museum show. He also purchased several of the works.
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Coates Yorker,
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