Horace Pippin

Pippin's Early Days

Horace Pippin was an African American painter. He was born around 1888 — just twenty-three years after the Civil War and the end of slavery. His grandparents were slaves, and his parents were domestic workers.

Pippin liked to draw 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 fourteen to help his family. He worked on a farm, as a porter at a hotel, and as an iron molder in a factory.

Pippin as Painter

At the age of forty Pippin found a way — even with his crippled right hand — to draw on wood using a hot poker. He made many burnt-wood art panels. Pippin decided to try painting with oil paints. He used his "good" left hand to guide his crippled right hand, which held the paintbrush, across the canvas. It took him three years to finish his first painting.

Pippin went on to paint his memories of soldiers and war, and scenes from his childhood. He said, "The pictures . . . come to me in my mind and if to me it is a worthwhile picture I paint it . . .. I do over the picture several times in my mind and when I am ready to paint it I have all the details I need."

Famous Folk Artist

Pippin was called a folk artist because he had no formal art training. He used bright colors, flat shapes, and straight lines. He did not use shading or complicated perspective. His art is also called primitive, naive, or innocent.