Activity # 10 Write About It!

Mediums



Horace Pippin created “Interior” in 1944, by the medium oil on canvass. Oil on canvass is an oil paint that consists of pigment compounded with oil (Getlein, 172). Pippin, used oil colors that were consisted with his canvas, message, and the understanding of art to paint his pictures for the entire world to see. Horace Pippin had limited usage of his hands so he chose to use oil paint because it made the images larger after the canvass finally dried. Pippin incorporated bright and dark colors to express his social and limited educational skills to paint the pictures of his memories. The painted wooden floor in this canvass was a brilliant way of making the floor look worn, old, and cracked. It gives the viewer a chance to see the history in this canvass with the flat shapes and painted straight lines. The gray colored walls in contrast to the snow on the window pane give the background a glaze look with the white gently detailed in certain areas. Glaze is a thin translucent veils of color applied over a thicker layer of under painting (Getlein, 175). Horace Pippin was able to gently share his memories with any viewer by creating visible life through the history of his paintings.


The creation of “Street on Mbari”, by Jacob Lawrence in 1964 was done by tempura on woven paper. Tempera is paint in which the pigment is compounded with aqueous, emulsified vehicle such as egg yolk (Getlein, 171). Jacob Lawrence created his culture, identity, and social interactions by incorporating the visual arts and history to express his struggles. By doing so, Lawrence used the color of black to express his characters and their culture, while using gold as the color of their land. The rough colors of red and blue were used to make a statement involving the African village symbols. But, Lawrence further felt that the usage of tempura gave his work a “raw, sharp, and rough” effect by painting clear images (Getlein, 172). The warm and neutral colors on the roof of the individual huts in this canvass are smooth and of different lengths that most likely resemble the images of his visit to Mbari street. However, in the canvass there are small areas of white that could be from gesso. Gesso is a mixture of white pigment and glue that could be sanded and rubbed to a smooth finish (Getlein, 172). Jacob Lawrence shares his visit to Mbari Street with us, by keeping it alive and refreshed through his techniques and colors.