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1930-1933

The Ending of the War, Starting Home

Horace Pippin

American, 1888 - 1946

Wearing brown uniforms and bearing bayonets, African American soldiers advance on gray-clad German troops, who appear to be startled, surrendering, hiding, and fleeing. French and German fighter planes skirmish in the distance. Bombs explode along the horizon. One of the Americans has fallen amid the chaos.

On the frame of this painting, Pippin affixed small carved versions of the tools of war—tanks, guns, hand grenades, gas masks, and other implements—alluding to some of the technological advances that made battle more brutal than ever before.

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Resources

Mr. Prejudice

Horace Pippin used this painting to make a strong statement about his experiences as a soldier in a segregated troop during and after World War I in France, where he fought bravely for democracy.
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