Artist: Horace Pippin Place/date of birth: West Chester, Pennsylvania 1888 Place/date of death: West Chester, Pennsylvania 1946 Title: The Trial of John Brown Date of completion: 1942 Materials: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 16 1/2 x 20 inches Signed and dated lower right : H. PIPPIN. 1942 Collection: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Accession number: 1979.7.82 Introduction This painting is from a trilogy about John Brown painted by Horace Pippin. The other two paintings show Brown at home reading a bible and Brown being transported to the scaffold. Pippin painted two other trilogies around the same time. These depicted the lives of Jesus Christ and Abraham Lincoln. According to Pippin, all three men were visionaries who met untimely deaths as a result of their moral convictions. Discussion Sixty years after Hovenden painted his rendition of the trial of John Brown (see slide # 14), African-American artist Horace Pippin felt moved to paint his own interpretation of the account. John Brown had died almost 100 years before the completion of this work, but his actions were still alive in the hearts and minds of many Americans. Brown was considered by some to be a hero -- the first martyr of the Civil War. Brown's story also had something of a personal connection for the artist; Pippin told several people that his grandmother was at John Brown's hanging. Looking Closely In this work, Pippin shows Brown at his trial, lying on the ground with a bible next to him. The state prosecutor, holding Brown's rifle, stands to his side. Behind them, members of the jury sit with unemotional expressions, not daring even to look at Brown. Brown had not recovered from his battle injuries before the trial commenced, and he was too weak to stand up. A newspaper editorial about the trial commented: We defy an instance to be shown in a civilized community where a prisoner had been forced to trial for his life when so disabled by sickness or ghastly wounds as to be unable even to sit up during the proceedings, and compelled to be carried to the judgement hall upon a litter. - Lawrence (Kansas) Republican, October 1859 The rose-colored carpetbag next to Brown is mentioned in most accounts of the trial. In this bag Brown carried maps, a copy of the U.S. Constitution, letters from abolitionist leaders such as Frederick Douglass, and other important papers. Carpetbags would later become symbols in the post-war Reconstruction era. Northerners traveled throughout the South after the war to help reform and enforce new state laws as well as to help educate freed slaves. Because they carried carpetbags, the reformers were contemptuously referred to by pro-slavery Southerners as "carpetbaggers." Style Pippin used mostly somber brown and black tones throughout this work. The only bright color is the red spot of blood on the bandage wrapped around Brown's forehead, immediately drawing attention to that part of the composition. Pippin's loose brush strokes and the simple, yet symbolic features of his subjects give his work a distinctly modern appearance. Artist Horace Pippin showed a talent for drawing at an early age, but because of circumstances of race, economics, and geography (he grew up in a rural area), he never received formal art training. During World War I, a gunshot wound paralyzed his right arm. Overcoming his lack of mobility, Pippin taught himself to paint when he was in his early forties. His powerful compositions were "discovered" by the modern art establishment in 1937, and for the nine years before his death, Pippin was a well-known painter. Additional Reading Judith E. Stein. I Tell My Heart: The Art of Horace Pippin. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1993. Links to American History Curriculum
SLIDE 15
THE TRIAL OF JOHN BROWN
Introduction | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Slide List | Museum Visit