Horace Pippin

Horace Pippin prints bring warm family interiors, quiet faith and powerful American history into your home in bold, simple colour. Pippin was a self-taught Black American painter and First World War veteran whose work grew from memory and imagination into some of the most admired American art of the 1940s. Our collection of fine art prints covers his domestic scenes, biblical pictures, landscapes and historical subjects.

About Horace Pippin

Horace Pippin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on 22 February 1888, and grew up in and around Goshen, New York. As a boy he won his first crayons and watercolours in an art supply contest and liked to draw the racehorses of Goshen's track. He left his segregated school early to support his mother, working in a coal yard, as a hotel porter, a mover and an iron moulder.

In the First World War he served with the 369th Infantry, the famous Harlem Hellfighters, who fought under French command and won the Croix de Guerre. In September 1918 a sniper's bullet shattered his right shoulder, leaving him with limited use of his arm. In the mid-1920s he began making art by burning designs into wood panels with a hot poker and adding colour.

In 1937 two of his paintings in a local Chester County show caught the attention of the critic Christian Brinton and the illustrator N. C. Wyeth. Brinton organised his first solo exhibition, and in 1938 his work appeared in the Museum of Modern Art's travelling show "Masters of Popular Painting". Dealers and collectors including Albert Barnes took him up, and his reputation grew rapidly until his death in West Chester in July 1946.

Style and Subjects

Pippin painted from memory and imagination in flat, bold colour, with strong outlines and careful, almost patterned detail. His pictures of home life, such as family suppers, Saturday-night baths and quiet interiors, are warm and dignified.

He also painted landscapes, portraits, war scenes and biblical subjects, and some of his best-known works address slavery and segregation, from his John Brown and Abraham Lincoln series to the Holy Mountain paintings, whose peaceful animals carry hidden references to lynching and war.

Famous Works

• Cabin in the Cotton (1934), Art Institute of Chicago. A Southern cabin and cotton field, one of his early oils.
• John Brown Going to His Hanging (1942), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Part of his trilogy on the abolitionist John Brown.
• Old Black Joe (1943), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington. A portrait from one of his most productive years.
• Asleep (1943), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Children sleeping in a simple room.
• Self-Portrait II (1944), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The artist looking steadily out at us.
• Victorian Interior I (1945), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A neat room of patterned furniture and lace.
• Holy Mountain IV (1946), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The last of his peaceable-kingdom pictures of predators and prey together.
• Family Supper (Saying Grace) (1946), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. A family giving thanks before a meal.

Decorating with Pippin Prints

Pippin's home scenes, like Family Supper or Sunday Morning Breakfast, are natural choices for a kitchen, dining room or family room, where their bold reds, whites and browns feel warm and welcoming.

His interiors and still lifes, such as Table and Two Chairs, suit a modern or mid-century space, and his history paintings make a meaningful focal point in a study or library.

FAQ

Who was Horace Pippin?

Horace Pippin (1888–1946) was a self-taught Black American painter from West Chester, Pennsylvania, and a decorated First World War veteran of the Harlem Hellfighters.

How did Horace Pippin start painting?

After a war wound limited the use of his right arm, he began in the mid-1920s by burning designs into wood with a hot poker and adding paint, then moved on to oil painting.

What are Horace Pippin's most famous paintings?

His best-known works include the Holy Mountain series, his John Brown trilogy, Abraham Lincoln paintings and domestic scenes such as Family Supper (Saying Grace).

Where can I see Horace Pippin's paintings?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Barnes Foundation, the Brandywine Museum of Art and the Phillips Collection hold his work.

Related Artists

• Edward Hicks: Quaker painter whose Peaceable Kingdom his Holy Mountain series recalls
• N. C. Wyeth: illustrator who helped bring his work to public notice
• Henri Rousseau: self-taught painter of the kind shown alongside him as "popular painters"