Horace Pippin

Holy Mountain, I

Growing up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Pippin had early exposure to illustrations from the Bible and hymnals. Holy Mountain, I was inspired by the prophecy of a “Peaceable Kingdom” in the book of Isaiah, which describes a paradise where all creatures will live in harmony.

Unlike the Bible’s description, Pippin’s painting exhibits moments of secular strife. While the foreground depicts predators and prey laying together in accordance to scripture, the background reveals threatening soldiers prowling the forest next to a graveyard.

Holy Mountain, I shares the inscribed date of June 6th, 1944 with D-Day, reinforcing ideas of war and peace. This dynamic had personal significance. Pippin served in World War I, and the figure at center is likely a self-portrait.

“If a man knows nothing but hard times he will paint them,” the artist said. “For he must be true to himself, but even that man may have a dream, an ideal—and Holy Mountain is my answer to such painting.”