Horace Pippin
Pippin enlisted in the army under a false name. On 15 July 1917, he joined the all-Black 15th New York National Guard Regiment (later the 369th Infantry, known as the Harlem Hellfighters) as "Harris Pippin". He served in France, kept a war journal illustrated with drawings, and was shot by a German sniper. The bullet partially paralysed his right arm. He was twenty-nine.
Biography
He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1888; his grandparents had been enslaved. As a boy in Goshen, New York, he won a box of crayons in a competition sponsored by an art supplier. That was the extent of his formal art education. After the war, he settled back in West Chester and began painting in the early 1930s, using his left hand to prop up his injured right arm. He worked on canvas, fabric, and cigar boxes, and burned images into wood panels with a hot poker. He also tried bee sting therapy for his wound, trading fish pepper seeds to his Quaker friend H. Ralph Weaver in exchange for bees.
Pippin produced roughly 140 works over twenty years. His subjects ranged from war memories to biblical scenes, landscapes and domestic interiors. The style was self-taught and non-academic: flat, bold colour within firm outlines, with a structural clarity that recalls American folk art and Edward Hicks's peaceable kingdom paintings. In 1943, the collector Albert C. Barnes and curator Christian Brinton began championing his work, bringing it to major exhibitions in Philadelphia and New York.
He became the first Black artist to be the subject of a published monograph, Selden Rodman's Horace Pippin, A Negro Painter in America (1947). He died in West Chester in 1946, at fifty-eight. The New York Times called him the most important Black painter in American history.
Timeline
- 1931Painted "Shell Holes And Observation Balloon, Champagne Sector" aged 43.
- 1933Painted "The Ending of the War, Starting Home" aged 45.
- 1937Painted "Major-General Smedley D. Butler" aged 49.
- 1940Painted "Portrait Of Christian Brinton" aged 52.
- 1942Painted "John Brown Going To His Hanging" aged 54.
- 1943Painted "Abe Lincoln, The Good Samaritan" aged 55.
Notable Works
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Horace Pippin prints
Hand-finished archival prints from Horace Pippin's body of work.
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Horace pippin facts?
Horace Pippin enlisted in the army under a false name and served in France with the 369th Infantry, known as the Harlem Hellfighters.How did horace pippin die?
Horace Pippin died in 1946 at the age of 58.What is horace pippin known for?
Horace Pippin is known for producing roughly 140 works over twenty years, ranging from war memories to biblical scenes, and domestic interiors.When did horace pippin start painting?
Horace Pippin began painting in the early 1930s after settling back in West Chester following his military service.Where did horace pippin grow up?
Horace Pippin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1888, but he spent his boyhood in Goshen, New York.Where did horace pippin study art?
As a boy in Goshen, New York, Horace Pippin won a box of crayons in a competition sponsored by an art supplier, but that was the extent of his formal art education.Who was horace pippin?
Horace Pippin was an American painter born in 1888; his grandparents had been enslaved.Why was horace pippin an important artist?
According to The New York Times, Horace Pippin was the most important Black painter in American history.Why was horace pippin important?
According to The New York Times, Horace Pippin was the most important Black painter in American history.Where was horace pippin born?
Horace Pippin was born in 1888 in United States. Horace Pippin died in 1946, aged 58.Where did horace pippin live?
After serving in the war, Horace Pippin settled back in West Chester, Pennsylvania.How old was horace pippin when he died?
Horace Pippin died in 1946 at the age of 58.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Horace Pippin.
- [1] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell Used for: biography.
- [2] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell_1 Used for: biography.
- [3] book Carol Strickland and John Boswell, The Annotated Mona Lisa _ba crash course in art history from prehistoric to post-modern _cCarol Strickland and John Boswell_2 Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-07-02. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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