During World War
I, African-American artist Horace Pippin was a
member of the 369th Army Regiment. Called
"Hell Fighters" by the French allies, these were
the first African-American soldiers to fight
overseas for the United States. Horace
Pippin’s right arm was permanently injured
during his service in the armed forces in World
War I. The disability resulted in his
unorthodox method of painting with his right
arm, resting it on his crossed legs for support,
and guided by his left hand. Because
painting was painful, most of his works were
small.
Courtesy of
The Art Institute of Chicago®
Cotton Merchants in New
Orleans - c.1872
Edgar Degas
(1834–1917)
When Edgar Degas reached New Orleans in 1872,
cotton was still king in the city. His very
famous painting, “A Cotton Office in New
Orleans” shows a group portrait of the men in
his family at work in the cotton business.
“Cotton Merchants in New Orleans,” a second
painting from the time, clearly shares its
subject, but the differences in Degas's
treatment suggest a radical shift in the
painter's approach, from 'naturalism' as he
would have called it, to what would become
Impressionism. ''Cotton Merchants,'' with
its more shadowy figures, its billowing sea of
cotton, ''its quick handling of gesture and
light . . . airy composition and genial use of
color,'' is a very ambitious, impressionistic
work. “Cotton Office” is a very different
painting with its distinct portraits, complex
arrangement of figures and detail rendered so
meticulously that you can almost read the
addresses on the discarded envelopes in a trash
basket.
English Seminar
Group
Different Ways of
Specifying the Quality
o
USDA "Green Card" (USDA GC final)
