Old Black Joe
1943
An elderly man with a white beard sits solemnly on a bench in a dark, flower-dotted field, holding a long rope that leads to a young girl in white reaching for blooms nearby. Behind them, a stark white fence and a plantation-style house sit under massive, billowing clouds that dominate the blue sky. Horace Pippin, a self-taught African American artist, painted this late in his life, titling it after a Stephen Foster song about slavery. The scene feels like a dream or a memory, contrasting the dark foreground with a bright, almost eerie background to reflect on the complex legacy of the American South.
- Technique
- Oil on canvas
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