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Image for Series 1: Horace Pippin Notebooks and Letters, circa 1920s, 1943

This collection has been digitized: View Collection

About the Horace Pippin notebooks and letters

All information on this page comes from A Finding Aid to the Horace Pippin Notebooks and Letters, circa 1920, 1943, in the Archives of American Art by Eric P. Frazier and Erin Corley, in the Archives of American Art. (Printable Version of Finding Aid: PDF, 68 KB )

Biographical Information | Description of the Collection | How to Use the Collection

Biographical Information

Born in West Chester, Pa., in 1888 Pippin was a self-taught primitive painter. His fighting experiences in France during World War I greatly influenced his later paintings. During the war, he was wounded and lost the use of his right arm. When painting, he had to use his left hand to guide his right. He gained a national reputation as a "true American primitive" in the 1940s, when his bold narrative paintings of childhood memories, war experiences, heroes, African American genre scenes, and religious subjects were widely exhibited, including his famous painting of the hanging of John Brown. Pippin died in 1946.

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Description of the Collection

Overview - Scope and Contents

Collection consists of three notebooks, notebook fragments, and two letters created by African American primitive painter Horace Pippin. The notebooks recount Pippin's World War I experiences, including his being wounded. One of the notebooks is illustrated.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection is arranged into one series.

Series 1: Horace Pippin Notebooks and Letters, circa 1920s, 1943; 8 items

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Subjects

This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Archives of American Art under the following terms:

Subjects:
- Carlen, Robert, 1906-1990

Subjects-Topical:
- Folk art -- United States
- African American painters
- Painting -- United States
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
- African American soldiers
- Self-taught artists -- Pennsylvania
- Painters -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

Types of Materials:
- Diaries

Provenance

Horace Pippin's war memiors/notebooks and one letter were purchased from Robert Carlen, Pippin's dealer, in 1956. The 1943 letter from Pippin to Carlen was donated by Dr. and Mrs. Matthew Moore in 1983.

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How the Collection was Processed

The Horace Pippin notebooks and letters were microfilmed in the order that they were donated on reels 138 and 4306. The collection was digitized in 2006 with funding provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

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How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The Horace Pippin notebooks and letters are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

Available Formats

This collection has been digitized. View the Horace Pippin notebooks and letters online

The collection was digitized in 2006 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website.

How to Cite this Collection

Horace Pippin notebooks and letters, circa 1920, 1943. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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