Horace Pippin

American, 1888–1946

Amish Letter Writer, 1940
Oil on canvas
12 by 20 inches

Signed H. Pippin and dated 1940 lower right

Pippin lived in a suburb of Philadelphia not far from Lancaster County, a center of Pennsylvania’s Amish community. The artist drew his subject matter primarily from the activities of small-town life and likely found the inspiration for Amish Letter Writer in Lancaster County. 

Pippin had little use for those who suggested he seek formal artistic training, preferring to embrace his own method, painting each work on the basis of images he visualized in his head with no preparatory drawings or sketches. He built his scenes with areas of color and used very little perspective, resulting in a graphic quality that set his work apart from that of his contemporaries. 

Amish Letter Writer was painted just as Pippin was beginning to receive attention from museums, collectors, and dealers. Robert Carlen, an art dealer in Philadelphia, took a great interest in his work and mounted Pippin’s first solo exhibition in 1940. The visionary collector Albert Barnes saw Pippin’s paintings as they were being installed at Carlen’s gallery and bought several on the spot.