Skip to main content
In Horace Pippin Newman shows the African-American painter in his rural surroundings in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The painter stands at the left, brushes and palette in hand, and dressed in dark trousers, vest, white shirt, and tie. He looks to his left, as if responding to a noise. Behind him is a grove of trees. The other two-thirds of the image consists of a hedge in the foreground, a clothesline with three sheets in the middle ground, and a frame structure in the background with windows missing several panes of glass. In the far distance is a larger brick building, also with broken windows, and at the far right a dead tree.
Horace Pippin (1888–1946) never studied art, and initially earned his living as a handyman. He served in the United States military during World War I; a sniper shot partly paralyzed his right arm. He took up art to strengthen it, and, in 1930, he began to paint with oils in a naïve style that used flat colors and emphasized detail. For subject matter he selected themes from religion and history, as well as landscapes and still lifes. Reynolda House Museum of American Art’s The Whipping, 1941, with its simplified shapes and limited palette, typifies Pippin’s interest in historical narratives relating to slaves.
In his photograph, Newman presents a simple scene not unlike a Pippin painting. The figure is posed frontally in a dense landscape. The bright white of the sheets comes forward visually, eliminating a clear sense of depth. Newman once proclaimed, “We don’t take photographs with our cameras, we take them with our hearts and our minds,” a sentiment mirrored by Pippin who stated, "Pictures just come to my mind; I think them out with my brain, and then I tell my heart to go ahead." [2]
Notes:
[1] Newman, quoted in Arnold Newman and Henry Geldzhaler, Artists Portraits from four Decades by Arnold Newman (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1980), 13.
[2] Newman, quoted in Alan Fern and Arnold Newman, Arnold Newman’s Americans (Boston: Bulfinch/Little Brown & Co., in association with the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution, 1992), 24, and Pippin quoted in Meg Nola, “Horace Pippin: Self-Taught African-American Artist,” http://meg-nola.suite101.com/horace-pippin.
ProvenanceFrom 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Arnold Newman Studios, Inc., New York on January 21, 1983. [1]
Notes:
[1] Invoice, object file.
Exhibition History2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/30/2006 - 12/31/2006)
2019
Portraits of the Artists
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (2/1/2019-8/4/2019)
Published References
DepartmentAmerican Art
Horace Pippin
Artist
Arnold Newman
(1918 - 2006)
Subject
Horace Pippin
(1888 - 1946)
Date1945
Mediumgelatin silver print
DimensionsFrame: 14 1/4 x 17 1/4 in. (36.2 x 43.8 cm)
Image: 7 1/8 x 9 1/4 in. (18.1 x 23.5 cm)
Signed© Arnold Newman
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
CopyrightDue to rights restrictions this image can not be enlarged or viewed at full screen.
Object number1983.2.6
DescriptionArnold Newman’s preference was to photograph his subjects in their surroundings, and to this end he traveled extensively—to England for Henry Moore, to Cannes, France, for Picasso, and to New Mexico for Georgia O’Keeffe. Since he often worked on assignment for magazines photographing politicians and government officials, his expenses were usually covered. As he explained, “With increasingly frequent commissions from magazines and advertising agencies, I still found it necessary to continue doing ‘my own work.’… Working with artists and other subjects came from a deep need to try out ideas not yet acceptable for the marketplace.” [1]In Horace Pippin Newman shows the African-American painter in his rural surroundings in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The painter stands at the left, brushes and palette in hand, and dressed in dark trousers, vest, white shirt, and tie. He looks to his left, as if responding to a noise. Behind him is a grove of trees. The other two-thirds of the image consists of a hedge in the foreground, a clothesline with three sheets in the middle ground, and a frame structure in the background with windows missing several panes of glass. In the far distance is a larger brick building, also with broken windows, and at the far right a dead tree.
Horace Pippin (1888–1946) never studied art, and initially earned his living as a handyman. He served in the United States military during World War I; a sniper shot partly paralyzed his right arm. He took up art to strengthen it, and, in 1930, he began to paint with oils in a naïve style that used flat colors and emphasized detail. For subject matter he selected themes from religion and history, as well as landscapes and still lifes. Reynolda House Museum of American Art’s The Whipping, 1941, with its simplified shapes and limited palette, typifies Pippin’s interest in historical narratives relating to slaves.
In his photograph, Newman presents a simple scene not unlike a Pippin painting. The figure is posed frontally in a dense landscape. The bright white of the sheets comes forward visually, eliminating a clear sense of depth. Newman once proclaimed, “We don’t take photographs with our cameras, we take them with our hearts and our minds,” a sentiment mirrored by Pippin who stated, "Pictures just come to my mind; I think them out with my brain, and then I tell my heart to go ahead." [2]
Notes:
[1] Newman, quoted in Arnold Newman and Henry Geldzhaler, Artists Portraits from four Decades by Arnold Newman (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1980), 13.
[2] Newman, quoted in Alan Fern and Arnold Newman, Arnold Newman’s Americans (Boston: Bulfinch/Little Brown & Co., in association with the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution, 1992), 24, and Pippin quoted in Meg Nola, “Horace Pippin: Self-Taught African-American Artist,” http://meg-nola.suite101.com/horace-pippin.
ProvenanceFrom 1983
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Arnold Newman Studios, Inc., New York on January 21, 1983. [1]
Notes:
[1] Invoice, object file.
Exhibition History2006
Self/Image: Portraiture from Copley to Close
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (8/30/2006 - 12/31/2006)
2019
Portraits of the Artists
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (2/1/2019-8/4/2019)
Published References
Status
Not on viewCollections