Himself black, many of the painter's subjects are about black people and so is the title of the painting.
In Old Black Joe, Pippin sets an old black man tied to a white child against a background of cotton fields. Pippin's title is based on an 1860s ballad that romanticized slavery, which was revived around 1940. Pippin's Old Black Joe confronts the song's nostalgic notion that service is made admirable by the loyalty and faith of the oppressed. But the life of labor and hardship of his subject have provided neither comfort nor security, and his body remains bound, both literally and figuratively, to a cruel past. Only death will free him.
Horace Pippin (Feb. 22, 1888 - July 6, 1946) was a self-taught American artist who painted a range of themes, including scenes inspired by landscapes, portraits and biblical subjects. Some of his best-known works deal with the American history of slavery and racial segregation. He was the first black artist to be the subject of a monograph, and the New York Times praised him as the most important black painter in American history.
Art for sale. Shop with photos and art as wall decoration. Posters, metal (aluminium or steel), glass, canvas, photo print, wood, framed, canvas, photo wallpaper or garden canvas.
The collection of wall decoration or wall decorations is very broad, from nature through..
Read more…