Artwork Details
Artist
Creation Date
Materials
Object Types
Dimensions
16-1/4 x 28-1/8 in. (canvas) 21-3/4 x 33-3/4 in. (framed, Optium)
Mark Description
Signed lower right in yellow: H.PIPPIN.
Accession Number
Credit Line
Gift of the Harrison Eiteljorg Gallery of Western Art by exchange, James E. Roberts Fund, Mr. and Mrs. C. Severin Buschmann, Jr. Fund
Copyright
Collection
American Painting and Sculpture 1800-1945
Color Palette
Provenance
The Artist; (Carlen Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until 1941); Henriette Liebman, Long Island City, New York; Carl Preston Green, Washington, District of Columbia, and New York, New York; Maurice Grosser [1903-1986], New York; Lou Rispoli, Queens, New York, by bequest until 2004; Private collection; (Carole Thompson Fine Art, Santa Barbara, California); purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art, in 2008 (2008.362).
Gallery Labels
Pippin was the first African American self-taught artist to receive national acclaim. In spite of an injury to his right arm during World War I, he never abandoned painting.
Pippin depicted everyday events, historical figures, and religious themes using a simplified style of flat shapes and strong colors.
In the American popular press of the 1910s and 1920s, the blue tiger was a recurring symbol of the unattainable, and the black bear signified the wilderness. The tiger and bear, rendered in contrasting tones, seem equally ferocious. With their impending clash, Pippin may be alluding to racial conflict.
Exhibition History
Exhibition Name
Venue
Dates
I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin
Metropolitan Museum of Art
February 1, 1995 - April 30, 1995
I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin
Baltimore Museum of Art
October 27, 1994 - January 22, 1995
I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin
Cincinnati Art Museum
July 28, 1994 - October 9, 1994
I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin
Art Institute of Chicago
April 30, 1994 - July 10, 1994
I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
January 21, 1994 - April 10, 1994
3 Self-Taught Pennsylvania Artists: Hicks, Kane, Pippin
Carnegie Institute Museum of Art
October 21, 1966 - December 4, 1967
3 Self-Taught Pennsylvania Artists: Hicks, Kane, Pippin
Corcoran Gallery of Art
January 6, 1967 - February 10, 1967
Theme and Variations in Painting and Sculpture
Baltimore Museum of Art
April 15, 1948 - May 23, 1948
Masters of Popular Painting: Modern Primitives of Europe and America
The Museum of Modern Art
April 27, 1938 - July 24, 1938
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