I did a Google search for great Memorial Day art and was delighted to find Horace Pippin’s work.
Looking at his works and reading his biography was uplifting.
Pippin was a noted American folk artist known for his compositions of African American life, Biblical scenes and themes, and the horrors of World War I. Pippin was a Purple Heart awarded, disabled veteran of WWI – he was shot in the left shoulder and lost the facility of his arm and hand. Pippin trained himself to make art by using his left hand as support while clasping the paintbrush in his right hand.
Pippin stated, “When I was a boy I loved to make pictures, but the War brought out all the art in me.”* He had a yearning to be an artist before he joined the military and was injured. It is likely that Pippin suffered from PTSD after WWI. He created his own art therapy for healing.
naïve art by Horace Pippin, 1935
Pippin’s art is in the same genre as Grandma Moses — American Folk Art. Characteristics of folk art include artists who are self-taught and compositions that reflect the culture of a community. Merriam Webster’s definition of folk art is, “the traditional decorative or utilitarian art of the people that is often an expression of community life and is distinguished from academic or self-conscious or cosmopolitan expression.”
Grandma Moses considered being self-taught a good thing. She thought being self-taught enabled the artist to paint/create without influence of a teacher. Folk art is the pure creation of an artists’ talents and interpretations, without a lens or filter.
Pippin’s work can be seen at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Brandywine River Museum.
In Conversation: Horace Pippin
Curator Jessica Smith and Linnea West of the the Brandywine Conservancy’s Education department discuss the works on view in the exhibition “Horace Pippin: From War to Peace.” Hear about the artist’s service in World War I, his successful career, and his unorthodox approach to materials. The 40-minute conversation is followed by a Q&A.
*Source: Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation, a creative exploration of the human experience of disability and healing.