All
the Art in Me: In Search of Horace Pippin
February
1 - April 20, 2003
All
the Art in Me: In Search of Horace Pippin
at the Reading Public Museum brings together
some of Pippin’s best work in landscape,
portraiture, still life and biblical and
historical subjects. In honor of Black History
Month, the exhibition runs February 1 –
April 20, 2003, with loans from major institutions
including The National Gallery of Art, Washington
D.C.; The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Museum
of Modern Art, NYC; The Whitney Museum of
American Art, NYC; and The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, NYC.
All the Art in Me: In Search of Horace
Pippin, which is supported by the Friends
of the Reading Museum, George and Sue Viener,
Ron and Helen Smith and NAACP, is included
with regular Museum admission of $5 adults,
$3 children 4 to 17. Members and children
under 4 are free. Museum hours are Tuesday,
Thursday-Saturday 11am to 5pm, Wednesday
11am to 8pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. The
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
have provided additional support. The Member
Opening Reception is February 1, 2003, 5:30pm
to 8:30pm.
“When I was a boy I loved to make
pictures,” wrote Pippin, “but
it was World War I that brought out all
the art in me…. I can never forget
suffering, and I will never forget sunset…so
I came home with all of it in my mind and
I paint from it today.” This quote,
taken from The Papers of African American
Artists, Archives of American Art/Smithsonian
Institution, provides the viewer with some
insight into Pippin’s work. A self-taught
master of design, color and composition,
Horace Pippin (1888-1946) gained a national
reputation in the 1940s with his renderings
of African-American life. During combat
in World War I, Pippin sustained an injury
that left him permanently disabled in his
right arm. His art was originally undertaken
as a therapy, and using his left hand to
guide his right, he began by creating scenes
on wood panels using a hot iron poker.
The exact circumstances of his emergence
are unclear, but throughout the 1930s, his
work was informally exhibited in West Chester,
PA businesses, and by the 1940s it was widely
exhibited and became fashionable along the
Main Line in Philadelphia. His work came
to the attention of the art critic and President
of the Chester County Art Association Christian
Brinton. Brinton and well-known artist and
illustrator N.C. Wyeth, convinced Pippin
to be the first African-American to exhibit
in the 6th Annual Exhibition of the Chester
County Art Association. This, along with
additional exposure in The Museum of Modern
Art’s 1938 exhibition Masters of Modern
Painting which toured nine U.S. cities,
brought Pippin to the attention of art collectors
Robert Carlen and Albert Barnes. Eventually
Pippin gained further prominence through
exhibitions in New York, Philadelphia and
Chicago and mass circulation in national
publications including Time, Newsweek, Life
and Vogue.
“Horace Pippin once said, ‘Pictures
just come to my mind, and I tell my heart
to go ahead.’ We are excited that
Reading Public Museum visitors will have
the opportunity to see the ‘heart’
in the art of one of America’s greatest
self-taught artists,” comments Ron
Roth, Director & CEO and Exhibit Curator.
“It will also be a chance to initiate
a meaningful discussion of American social
and racial history. Reading, PA, was one
of the stops on the ‘Underground Railroad,’
providing further significant historical
context to this exhibition.”
The All the Art in Me: In Search of
Horace Pippin exhibit at the Reading
Public Museum is running simultaneously
with The Art of David Lynch: Dark Passages.
Related Programming for All the
Art in Me: In Search of Horace Pippin:
Gallery Tours of Exhibit with Mr. Fred Bacon.
Sundays, February 2, 16, and 23 at 2:30pm.
Free with Museum Admission. 2nd Floor, Left
Temporary Gallery.
Discovery Talk – “The Underground
Railroad: Let Freedom Ring” with Mr.
Frank Gilyard, Director of Central Pennsylvania
African-American Museum. Sunday, February
2 at 3:30pm. Free with Admission. Auditorium.
Discovery Talk – “In Search
of Horace Pippin” with Mr. Ronald
Roth, Director & CEO Reading Public
Museum and Exhibit Curator. Tuesday, February
4 at 10am. Free. Auditorium.
Discovery Talk – “Pippin and
Other African-American Artists of His Time”
with Mr. Fred Bacon. Sunday, February 9
at 2:30pm. Free with Admission.
Lecture Series – “A History
of African-American Art” with Dr.
Fred Heffner with special guest speakers.
Wednesdays, February 5, 12 and 19 from 7pm
to 9pm. Non-members $25.00, Members $15.00.
Call 610.371.5850 ext. 229 to register.
Bus Trip – Metropolitan Museum of
Art on Saturday, February 22. Take this
opportunity to see African-American Artists
(1929-1945) and Genesis: Ideas of Origin
in African Sculpture. $50.00 includes transportation
and admission. Call 610.371.5850 ext. 229
to register.
Group Tours – “All the Art in
Me: In Search of Horace Pippin”. To
schedule a group tour, call our Education
Department at 610.371.5850 ext. 229.
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