A laugh-out-loud story of artistic expression, told in direct speech and adorable manga-inflected illustrations by Charlotte Mei. ''The author and illustrator, Charlotte Mei, provides beautifully simplistic artwork to accompany her uplifting and inspirational story of self-discovery''. -- Seattle Book Review ''I love that this book talks about famous artists but ultimately Pippin finds his own way of creating. Perfect for budding artists''. -- Picturebook Playdate ''This is an ideal introduction to famous artists and some of their most celebrated works for young readers''. -- Library Girl and Book Boy ''This successful debut dips into artistic mediums, and shows that there is much fun and mileage to be had in imitating old masters, as well as managing to ace your own style''. -- Good Reads ''Charlotte Mei provides playful illustrations that contrast with the fine art at the heart of the book''. -- The Great British Bookworm ''This beautifully illustrated picture book will not only inspire children to want to create art but also feel confident and determined to do it''. -- School Reading List "Today I am going to paint a portrait. It is a portrait of someone very important. That someone is ME (it is a self-portrait). All famous artists paint pictures of themselves, and I am a famous artist. Or at least I will be when I've finished my portrait." Pippin is painting his self-portrait, but his friends think he's got a lot to learn about painting. They take him to see Angelique's portrait, which takes inspiration from Cubism, Dudley's portrait, which is inspired by the work of Chris Ofili, Momo's portrait, which draws from the work of Yayoi Kusama, and Franklin and Aaliya's portrait, which is a colour field painting in the style of Mark Rothko. Pippin is feeling very deflated, but his little friend Minky helps him to dig deep and find the artist inside himself. Packed with information about famous artists, their approaches and their mediums, this book simultaneously engages, informs and asks young readers to question how they themselves 'read' and create art.

This nuanced reassessment transforms our understanding of Horace Pippin, casting the artist and his celebrated paintings as more complex than has previously been recognized

War had a profound effect on Horace Pippin. Stationed in Europe during World War I, Pippin saw active combat as part of the Harlem Hellfighters regiment, a group of mostly African American soldiers. While he was serving bravely for a country that didn't yet fully recognize his civil rights, his right arm was injured by sniper fire, but he harbored far deeper wounds inflicted by the horrors of battle. He picked up a paintbrush as a way to treat his injury, but learning to make art soothed him in mind, body, and soul. In this in-depth biography, readers learn more about Pippin's life as a self-taught artist and how his art, ranging from self-portraits to landscapes to domestic scenes and touching on issues like slavery and segregation, drew the attention of museums, private collectors, and even Hollywood stars of the 1940s. Though his career was cut short by a fatal stroke when he was just 58 years old, Pippin's work left an indelible mark on American art.

After World War I, artists without formal training “crashed the gates” of major museums in the United States, diversifying the art world across lines of race, ethnicity, class, ability, and gender. At the center of this fundamental reevaluation of who could be an artist in America were John Kane, Horace Pippin, and Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses. The stories of these three artists not only intertwine with the major critical debates of their period but also prefigure the call for inclusion in representations of American art today. In Gatecrashers, Katherine Jentleson offers a valuable corrective to the history of twentieth-century art by expanding narratives of interwar American modernism and providing an origin story for contemporary fascination with self-taught artists.

On a cloudy February morning, heading home from an uneventful trip to the Sunday flea market, I reluctantly turn into a deserted parking lot. I noticed two dealers were here at opposite ends. Little did I expect this would turn into a year and half long pilgrimage where I would learn much about the self-taught artist Horace Pippin. It was one of his paintings, telling a specific story that I carried with me to friends, to new acquaintances, to libraries, to museums, to auction houses, to the USPS, and to many more places using it as a torch to guide my way. In the end it proved to be one of the most exciting journeys I have experienced. I feel very enriched to have found Horace Pippin. Tom Hughes a retired Architecture Professor enjoys reading, writing, collecting books and hiking. He lives in rural Eastern Pennsylvania with his family, two dogs and two cats.

While social concerns have been central to the work of many African-American visual artists, painters

In the long-awaited successor to the "Dictionary of American Negro Biography," the authors illuminate history through the immediacy of individual experience, with authoritative biographies of some 600 noteworthy African Americans.