2018 School Spending Survey Report
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
illus. by Melissa Sweet. 40p. further reading. notes. photos. reprods. websites. Knopf. Jan. 2013. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-375-86712-5; PLB $20.99. ISBN 978-0-375-96712-2. LC 2012003209.
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Gr 3–6—Born in 1888, grandson of a slave, Pippin loved to draw from an early age. He painted "…every day scenes in natural colors; then he added a splash of red." His classmates often begged, "Make a picture for us, Horace!" When he was in the eighth grade, he quit school and went to work. From rail yard to farm to hotel to factory, his workmates echoed the request, "Make a picture for us…." And when he enlisted in World War I, his fellow soldiers also entreated him to draw. "The war brought out all the art in me." But a bullet to the shoulder rendered his right arm useless and he was unable to find work due to his injury. Still, his drive to draw remained. One day, "using his good arm to move the hurt one, he scorched lines into the wood" to create a picture. With practice, his weak arm improved enough to allow him to paint, and paint he did. N.C. Wyeth recognized his talent and arranged for him to have a one-man exhibit. Today his work hangs in museums all over the country. Bryant's meticulously researched, eloquent text makes this a winning read-aloud, while Sweet's vibrant, folksy illustrations, rendered in watercolor, gouache, and mixed media, portray the joys and hardships of the man's life, using his trademark palette…with just a splash of red. Quotations from his notebooks, letters, and interviews are effectively woven into the pictures.—Barbara Auerbach, PS 217, Brooklyn, NYHorace Pippin drew and painted from an early age, but as the eldest son in a working-class African American family he was not afforded the luxury of pursuing an education or career in art. Instead, beginning at age fourteen he worked a series of menial jobs to help support his family until he enlisted as a soldier in World War I. There, he sketched and recorded what he saw. When he was shot in the right shoulder, he sustained an injury so grave that he was discharged from the army; it also weakened his right arm to such an extent that it ended his ability to draw or paint. But years later he felt inspired to create art, and he realized he could do so if he supported his right hand with his left one. He went on to create dozens of paintings, based on memories from his childhood and wartime experiences, stories his grandmother had told, stories from the Bible, and scenes he saw around him. Bryant's well-researched, articulate account of Pippin's life is interspersed with direct quotes from him, most of which are embedded directly into Sweet's expressive gouache, watercolor, and collage illustrations. Although only five of Pippin's actual paintings are reproduced here (and only on the back endpapers), Sweet includes her own versions of many of them, created in the "simple colors" Pippin was fond of -- black, white, browns, greens, yellows -- but usually including a touch of bright red. kathleen t. horning
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