Day 1 / Supper Time

Jan 12

Jan 12 Day 1 / Supper Time

IF A MAN KNOWS NOTHING BUT HARD TIMES, HE WILL PAINT THEM, FOR HE MUST BE TRUE TO HIMSELF.

—HORACE PIPPIN

Painted on bound, repurposed planks, Supper Time is an intimate vignette of everyday African-American life and an affirmation of the value of family, memory, and relationships. Horace Pippin (1888–1946) singed prominent horizontal and vertical lines into the wood with a hot poker, creating a strikingly balanced, grid-like composition. The labor of the art-making process reflects the labor depicted: a coal or wood burning stove at the right of the frame is topped with a sputtering frying pan. Frost gathers on the window panes and the door is slightly ajar, highlighting the warm or perhaps even hot interior. Frayed laundry dries against mismatched wooden planks. Two figures are seated at the table, a steaming coffee pot, glass of milk, and cup with a saucer before them. The unpainted wooden grain of the woman’s forearm and elbow blends seamlessly into the scene outside the window panes and offsets her crisp white apron. Her cerulean dress is purposefully darkened near the underarms, suggesting perspiration and repetitive wear. The coral hue of the seated man’s shirt compliments and counterbalances the woman’s blue dress.

A descendant of slaves and born into a family of domestic servants, Pippin was a native of West Chester, Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the famed all-African-American 369th infantry in France during World War II, where he sustained a bullet in his right arm. Painting was a means of physical therapy for his paralyzed limb. He was never classically trained and eventually drew the attention of Albert Barnes, a prominent Philadelphia art collector at the time, who was particularly interested in the self-taught artist. Pippin’s artistic success is remarkable given the fraught racial tension in the United States at that time, and the many barriers facing Black artists, particularly in museums.

Reflections

This depiction of an ordinary scene, rendered by an artist with a disability, invites us to reflect on memory, relationships, and resilience. Pippin utilized painting as a means of healing and sharing his own experiences. What are other ways of expressing or commemorating parts of our lives with others?
How might this feel particularly significant or therapeutic when we are vulnerable or ill?
What aspects of your everyday life does this painting remind you of? What simple moments are you most grateful for?

sources

Cotter, Holland. “Horace Pippin Captured History With Joy and Acid.” The New York Times, February 3, 1995.

Dolkart, Judith F., Martha Lucy, and Derek Gillman. The Barnes Foundation: Masterworks. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2012.

Monahan, Anne, Isabelle Duvernois, and Sylvia A. Centeno. “Working My Thought More Perfectly’: Horace Pippin’s The Lady of the Lake.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 52, no. 1 (2017): 94–116.

Perthes, William. “Barnes Takeout: Art Talk on Horace Pippin’s Supper Time.” The Barnes Foundation. April 2, 2020. Video, 12:18. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QVZsnytQKM.

“Pippin’s Story.” National Gallery of Art. Accessed October 5, 2021. www.nga.gov/education/teachers/lessons-activities/ counting-art/pippin.html.