'Suffering and Sunset': Horace Pippin's World War I Manuscripts and Paintings
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: American and Canadian Studies
Abstract
Horace Pippin (1888-1946) is the sole African American soldier serving in World War I to have created both a visual - consisting of both preparatory sketches and oil paintings - and textual archive comprising a series of untranscribed, phonetically written autobiographical fragments. The primary but not sole purpose of this project is to complete the research and writing of a 90,000 word book entitled, 'Suffering and Sunset: Horace Pippin's World War I Manuscripts and Paintings,' contracted to the University Press of Virginia and due February 2012.
Based on archives held at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Chester County Historical Society, this book will not only consist of a 70,000 word monograph investigating Horace Pippin's life and works in relation to his World War I experiences but will also provide the first critical edition of his four unpublished autobiographies (a total of 20,000 words). Written with the aim of addressing his widespread neglect within art history, this monograph will recontextualise, retheorise and reexamine Pippin's life and works with a particular emphasis upon his World War I writings, paintings and illustrations.
More particularly, this research will investigate his self-reflexive relationship to aesthetics, narrative, politics and history as he dramatised his 'life story of art' across diverse drawings, illustrations and oil paintings as well as his unpublished prose and correspondence. This study will begin by examining Pippin's importance as a World War I writer, particularly in diverse relation to a number of mainstream, primarily white, American artists turned diarists and autobiographers of the war as well as a rich array of under-researched African American autobiographers, poets, novelists and dramatists. The book will then analyse Pippin's World War I paintings in depth not only to extrapolate further from his insistence that art was a way to exorcise his 'blue spells' but also to re-evaluate his work in relation to his declarations of artistic independence as he informed his sponsors, 'Don't tell me how to paint.'
Utilising key intellectual approaches by theorists of African American art history (Powell, hooks, Wallace, Stein, Wilson et al), this research will problematise popular representations of Pippin variously as an untutored naïf, a spiritual visionary and an indigenous painter. Another aim of this book will be to situate Pippin's oeuvre within the context of works produced by other African American artists (Edwin Harleston, Malvin Gray Johnson, William H. Johnson et al) similarly engaged in providing experimental representations of war and in resisting as well as signifying upon the political, intellectual and aesthetic influences of a white dominated art world. The book will then address the role of the white editor in relation to Pippin's manuscripts not only to confront the publishing difficulties which have beset African American authors for centuries but also to situate his work alongside other World War I texts produced by African American writers.
Concluding with annotated typescripts including footnotes, a glossary and a bibliography, this book will aim to show that Pippin's dramatic canvases can be best understood in conjunction with his evocative manuscripts as they testify to his powerful conviction, 'I cannot forget suffering and I will not forget sunset.'
Based on archives held at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Chester County Historical Society, this book will not only consist of a 70,000 word monograph investigating Horace Pippin's life and works in relation to his World War I experiences but will also provide the first critical edition of his four unpublished autobiographies (a total of 20,000 words). Written with the aim of addressing his widespread neglect within art history, this monograph will recontextualise, retheorise and reexamine Pippin's life and works with a particular emphasis upon his World War I writings, paintings and illustrations.
More particularly, this research will investigate his self-reflexive relationship to aesthetics, narrative, politics and history as he dramatised his 'life story of art' across diverse drawings, illustrations and oil paintings as well as his unpublished prose and correspondence. This study will begin by examining Pippin's importance as a World War I writer, particularly in diverse relation to a number of mainstream, primarily white, American artists turned diarists and autobiographers of the war as well as a rich array of under-researched African American autobiographers, poets, novelists and dramatists. The book will then analyse Pippin's World War I paintings in depth not only to extrapolate further from his insistence that art was a way to exorcise his 'blue spells' but also to re-evaluate his work in relation to his declarations of artistic independence as he informed his sponsors, 'Don't tell me how to paint.'
Utilising key intellectual approaches by theorists of African American art history (Powell, hooks, Wallace, Stein, Wilson et al), this research will problematise popular representations of Pippin variously as an untutored naïf, a spiritual visionary and an indigenous painter. Another aim of this book will be to situate Pippin's oeuvre within the context of works produced by other African American artists (Edwin Harleston, Malvin Gray Johnson, William H. Johnson et al) similarly engaged in providing experimental representations of war and in resisting as well as signifying upon the political, intellectual and aesthetic influences of a white dominated art world. The book will then address the role of the white editor in relation to Pippin's manuscripts not only to confront the publishing difficulties which have beset African American authors for centuries but also to situate his work alongside other World War I texts produced by African American writers.
Concluding with annotated typescripts including footnotes, a glossary and a bibliography, this book will aim to show that Pippin's dramatic canvases can be best understood in conjunction with his evocative manuscripts as they testify to his powerful conviction, 'I cannot forget suffering and I will not forget sunset.'
Planned Impact
There is considerable potential for this project to make an impact beyond the university context and in a range of social forums. This research is highly original and very relevant to ongoing debates regarding social justice, public history, race, national identity, memory and representation. This research into the life and works of a major yet under-researched African American artist has far-reaching social, economic and cultural impact by extending the current parameters of key fields - American Studies, Art History, Cultural History and African American Studies - to suggest that an in-depth intellectual and political recovery of lost testimonies and elided histories is only possible by adopting an interdisciplinary approach. Debates and controversies surrounding Pippin's status as an artist including his formal approaches, choice of subject-matter, military experience and forays into literary authorship shed light on new ways of approaching other equally under-researched and misinterpreted artists and/or writers and historical figures of diverse racial identities otherwise written out of white mainstream national histories and public narratives.
In addition to completing a 90,000 word monograph which will publish edited typescripts of Pippin's autobiographies for the first time (contracted to University Press of Virginia, 1500 print run), the University Press of Virginia and Smithsonian Institution Press are producing a facsimile edition of Horace Pippin's World War I autobiographies. This volume will offer a general audience the opportunity to examine Pippin's unedited prose in conjunction with my edited transcripts so that they can become self-reflexive interpreters of black literary production.
I also plan to organise the following events:
-a one day public conference on 'Problems and Issues in Researching African American and African British Art History' to be held at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham (June 2012) with whom I have established links as Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery.
- a one day public forum at Nottingham Contemporary (September 2012) which would directly address debates related to problematic designations of 'folk,' 'outsider' and 'primitive art,' all of which have far-reaching implications for how we theorise, approach and interpret black diasporic arts.
- a public screening at the Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, of Art of the Steal (2009) (November/December 2012), a recent documentary examining the life of one of Pippin's key sponsors, white patron and philanthropist Albert Barnes as part of which I would also hope to give a very brief introduction situating the film in social, political and historical context.
- a series of sessions on 'Researching African American and African British Culture' in local schools in the Nottingham and Derby areas - including a number of institutions with which I have already worked in my ongoing role as Widening Participation and Outreach Officer as well as my previous role as Admissions Director.
- a one off session for local history groups including the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire and Nottingham University History Society, on the topic of 'African American and Black British Military Experiences' in order to stimulate further research into Black British experiences in World War I, a very much under-researched area.
- to investigate the possibility of a small-scale exhibition of Horace Pippin's World War I paintings and drawings by collaborating further with the curators and educational officers at the Rudenstine Gallery, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University.
Given that there is no internet site examining Pippin's life and works, I will disseminate material from the project via my page on the School's web site as this would then serve as a focal point for s
In addition to completing a 90,000 word monograph which will publish edited typescripts of Pippin's autobiographies for the first time (contracted to University Press of Virginia, 1500 print run), the University Press of Virginia and Smithsonian Institution Press are producing a facsimile edition of Horace Pippin's World War I autobiographies. This volume will offer a general audience the opportunity to examine Pippin's unedited prose in conjunction with my edited transcripts so that they can become self-reflexive interpreters of black literary production.
I also plan to organise the following events:
-a one day public conference on 'Problems and Issues in Researching African American and African British Art History' to be held at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham (June 2012) with whom I have established links as Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery.
- a one day public forum at Nottingham Contemporary (September 2012) which would directly address debates related to problematic designations of 'folk,' 'outsider' and 'primitive art,' all of which have far-reaching implications for how we theorise, approach and interpret black diasporic arts.
- a public screening at the Broadway Cinema, Nottingham, of Art of the Steal (2009) (November/December 2012), a recent documentary examining the life of one of Pippin's key sponsors, white patron and philanthropist Albert Barnes as part of which I would also hope to give a very brief introduction situating the film in social, political and historical context.
- a series of sessions on 'Researching African American and African British Culture' in local schools in the Nottingham and Derby areas - including a number of institutions with which I have already worked in my ongoing role as Widening Participation and Outreach Officer as well as my previous role as Admissions Director.
- a one off session for local history groups including the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire and Nottingham University History Society, on the topic of 'African American and Black British Military Experiences' in order to stimulate further research into Black British experiences in World War I, a very much under-researched area.
- to investigate the possibility of a small-scale exhibition of Horace Pippin's World War I paintings and drawings by collaborating further with the curators and educational officers at the Rudenstine Gallery, W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, Harvard University.
Given that there is no internet site examining Pippin's life and works, I will disseminate material from the project via my page on the School's web site as this would then serve as a focal point for s
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Celeste-Marie Bernier (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bernier Celeste-Marie
(2015)
Suffering and Sunset: World War I in the Art and Life of Horace Pippin
| Description | I made numerous important discoveries through the research funded on this grant and which led to my over double length monograph, Suffering and Sunset: World War I in the Art and Life of Horace Pippin which is the first intellectual history and cultural biography of this major twentieth-century African American artist (manuscript fully revised, undergone external peer review and undergoing production for publication at Temple University Press in June 2015). Tracing the ways in which the life and death struggles of Pippin's combat service in World War I remained indivisible from his fight for the right to create art, I worked with newly discovered archives and unpublished materials to cut to the heart of his war-inspired paintings, burntwood panels, and sketches. Working to provide readers with the story not only of his renaissance as an artist but of his naissance as a writer, Suffering and Sunset provides the first investigation into the autobiographical manuscripts he created on his return from the frontline trenches. Surviving as a metaphor, myth, and symbol no less than as a historical and political reality, Pippin's conviction that his life story of war was a life story of art inspires his protest aesthetic as he denounced the atrocities experienced by Black women, men, and children living in the no man's land of a United States society haunted by slavery's twentieth-century legacies in segregation, lynchlaw, and racist persecution. 1) The first intellectual history and cultural biography of major twentieth century African American artist, Horace Pippin 2) The first examination of Pippin's life story of art as a life story of war in which the author works with previously unexamined archives and published and unpublished materials to shed new light on this figure in particular and on African American combat service in World War I more generally 3) The first in-depth examination not only of Horace Pippin's service in World War I but of his unpublished writings as well as his artworks and in addition to an investigation into the missing tradition of African American ex-servicemen's literary and visual works. As a volume that to my knowledge is unique in African American Studies and World War I Studies, this book is distinctive for a number of "firsts," the majority of which can be summarized in brief as follows: The first mapping of Pippin's genealogical history and biographical origins using never before discovered much less examined documents that has a direct impact on his life story of war and of art. Among the main discoveries are my use of newly found documents to prove that the individuals scholars writing in 2013 identify as Pippin's mother and father were in fact his half brother and sister; I also prove his family were free-born as far back as the late eighteenth century. The first overview of Black World War I combat histories and of the Fifteenth New York National Guard in relation to Pippin's life and works and the outpouring of Black World War I testimonies and artworks. The first mapping of Pippin's World War I combat history using discharge cards, burial records, service cards, roll call certificates - including the first example of his handwriting before his disability - and registration cards, among much more, in order to debate questions related to his enlistment and service that have previously been unexamined. The first book to establish that Pippin's decision to create art following World War I was not a naissance but a renaissance in painting as I trace his pre-war developments as an artist. The first book not only to provide a critical overview of Pippin in relation to art historical terminology but to break new ground by theorizing Pippin as a self-made soldier and self-made artist. I break new analytical ground by analyzing Pippin according to the designation "self-made" rather than as an artist who was dismissed as a self-taught, visionary, naïf, primitive, innocent. Radically, "self-made" situates Pippin both within and without an African American art-making tradition and European American mainstream practices more generally. The first analysis of Pippin's five autobiographies in relation not only to their internal formal and thematic components but also to an unmapped literary tradition as consisting of previously unexcavated testimonies by other Black World War I veterans. The full significance of Pippin's autobiographies can only really begin to come alive not only on their own terms but via an interrelated engagement with this unmapped tradition. The first theorization of Pippin's handwritten manuscripts not as trench diaries but as autobiographies as I am the first scholar to prove they were written following his return from World War I. The first mapping of Pippin's relationship to white art world "discovery" narratives, patronage systems and his own undocumented relationship to white art movements in order to establish his agency and authority, previously unacknowledged. The first mapping of his formal practices in relation to the practical difficulties emerging not only from his disability but from his access or otherwise to fine versus found art materials (to date, no scholar has extensively addressed the impact Pippin's disability had upon his art-making practices). The first examination of Pippin in relation to black and white oral testimonies of World War I. The first mapping of Black World War I histories in relation to a theorization of no man's land not only as a literal, historical space but as an allegorical, spiritual and symbolic touchstone in the African American fight for civil and political rights. I identify war as not only a political and historical reality for Pippin but also a displaced forum within which he was able debate the on-going war for black civil rights in a peace-time U.S. society as against a horrifying backdrop of slavery's legacies in segregation and lynchlaw. The recovery and identification of Pippin in newly found photographs and photographs in which he had been previously unidentified - I have not only found the first photograph of Pippin prior to his disability but have also made new discoveries that mean I am now able to identify Pippin in group photographs in which scholars were previously at a loss. The first examination of Pippin's drawings and of his World War I- and World War-II inspired body of paintings as I theorize his body of works as constituting a series of warscapes as war remains not only a political and historical reality but an allegorical and spiritual symbol across his oeuvre. The first mapping of Pippin's life and works in relation to white racist World War I art historical traditions including not only cartoon imagery and mass-produced propaganda posters but also the works created by the governmentally commissioned "eight," the white painters who were given no mandate to fight but were selected to create a "representative" - for which read white supremacist - visual archive of the war. The first mapping of Pippin's works in relation to a Black World War I veterans' art tradition. The first excavation and examination of his extant correspondence. The first examination of debates surrounding fake and authentic paintings including investigation into the controversies related to the recent uncovering of additional paintings and for which I have worked extensively with conservators, owners, and dealers, leading to yet more discoveries. |
| Exploitation Route | I conceptualised this research project as a test case in which to undertake interdisciplinary research into African American art history as an intellectual, political, social, cultural and philosophical necessity and so I'm pioneering an alternative theoretical methodology here. |
| Sectors | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News-and-Events/Features/Pages/Horace-Pippin.aspx |
| Description | My findings have been used to produce the first intellectual history and cultural biography of a major yet under researched African American artist. The research monograph is over double length - approximately 220,000 words and includes a large visual archive of unpublished works. The research findings were profiled in an interview in the AHRC World War I publication as they also contribute to World War I Studies. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2011 |
| Sector | Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | A Book Launch for Suffering and Sunset held at the Charles Blockson Collection in Philadelphia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A book launch for Suffering and Sunset World War I in Horace Pippin held at the Charles Blockson Afro-American collection at Temple University for which the audience members included archivists, librarians,faculty, students and the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | A lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | I delivered a public lecture on new research titled "That tirebell, and hell place:" Black Combat-Artists and World War I" at the University of Nottingham and there was an interesting and stimulating discussion afterwards. This talk involved the dissemination of new research in the fields of African American Studies and led to a fascinating scholarly exchange with the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | A public lecture at the New Art Exchange |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I delivered a lecture at the New Art Exchange titled "The Battlefield Was Hell:" Black Soldiers Write and Paint World War I," which led to stimulating debate and scholarly exchange. The aim of this lecture was to introduce audiences to new research in order to inspire understanding regarding the marganialization of African American Studies. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | An Interview on Suffering and Sunset and Black Combat Heroism on an African American Radio Station WURD in Philadelphia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I was interviewed on African American radio station in Philadelphia on Horace Pippin and Black combat heroism. I'm very sorry I've no idea of the audience figures so I've just guessed at the number so this could be entirely inaccurate. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | I delivered a lecture "War Brought All the Art Out of Me:" Horace Pippin's World War I Manuscripts and Paintings," at the University of Exter as part of their Visual Culture series which sparked engaging discussion and debate. The aim of this lecture was to engage in raising awareness for an under research topic of major importance. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Public Lecture at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia USA |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I gave a public lecture at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia which is an internationally renowned art gallery in which they hold some paintings by a Black artist Horace Pippin but on which they include very little information in favour of their European collections. I inspired conversation on this Black artist which resulted in their contacting me to develop further programming (I was unfortunately unable to do any further events due to my only living in the US until May but I plan to develop these links further in the future). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Public lecture in art gallery |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I delivered a public lecture at Nottingham Contemporary titled: "War Brought all the Art Out of Me:" Black Artists Bear Witness to World War I's Hidden Histories, public lecture," October 2011. There was a very interesting discussion afterwards regarding ongoing forces of marganisation and distortion regarding black art histories. This lecture was part of Black History Month and as such written, researched and conceptualised in order to work to eradicate ongoing erasures and marginalisations of black histories, memories and narratives not only in World War I Studies within the disciplines of history, art history, politics, literature, culture among much more. This lecture was introducing audiences to original research within a field that had never previously been discussed in this forum. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.impactnottingham.com/2011/11/'war-brought-all-the-art-out-of-me'-nottingham-contemporary/ |
| Description | Public talk in a public library |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | There was an extensive discussion afterwards and a great deal of scholarly debate and exchange on this under researched field with members of the public. This lecture was part of Black History Month and as such written, researched and conceptualised in order to work to eradicate ongoing erasures and marginalisations of black histories, memories and narratives not only in World War I Studies within the disciplines of history, art history, politics, literature, culture among much more. This lecture was introducing audiences to original research within a field that had never previously been discussed in this forum. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Screening of World War I African American Soldiers Film in Public Education Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
| Results and Impact | I screened a film on African American Soldiers for Black History Month and gave a brief talk about it and we had an interesting debate and scholarly exchange. We shared information and discussed issues regarding the neglect and distortion and widespread forgetting of Black World War I histories. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |