Horace Pippin (Art Drop #4)

A quick hit about a Black soldier, wounded in war, who found healing in Art.

Horace Pippin—The Park Bench, 1946 via the Philadelphia Museum of Art

In celebration of Black History Month, today’s Art Drop features The Park Bench by Horace Pippin (also known as Man on a Bench).

Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1868, Pippin served in the 369th Infantry Regiment during World War I. His unit was assigned to the French Army because many white American soldiers refused to fight alongside Black servicemen. ¹

Stationed on the front line,

Pippin’s battalion was one of four African American regiments to see combat. Like the many, many millions wounded in action, he was shot in the shoulder during the “war to end all wars.”²

Several years after Pippin returned home, he took up painting, a subject that had interested him in school, hoping it would help his physical and mental recovery. In order to paint, he used his left hand to guide his right hand, which held the paint brush. Eventually, painting strengthened his injured arm and helped him process the haunting memories of the war. ³

A self-taught artist,

he is known for the striking originality of his work as well as his depictions of African American life and scenes based on his personal memories, including his experiences during the war. The Park Bench was completed shortly before his death in 1946 at age 78.

Pippin’s life and work remind us that African Americans—like the three sergeants killed during a drone strike in January of this year—have fought courageously to defend the United States ever since the American Revolution.

Dream deferred

Many Black soldiers had hoped their bravery abroad during World War I would demonstrate that they deserved to be treated with respect and dignity at home. But it would take another 30 years for the U.S. military to desegregate. And another 46 years before the Civil Rights Act ended segregation altogether.

For more about Horace Pippin, check out the two-minute video below. Or the lovely painting Saying Prayers from 1943. And if you want to know what happened when Pippin met Salvador Dalí during an exhibit featuring work by both artists, check out this hilarious one-minute clip.

©2024 Andrew Jazrpose Hill.
Thanks for checking out today’s Art Drop. See you next time!

1. Philadelphia Museum of Art website.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.