Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number a ...

and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. His painting ''Daniel in the Lions' Den'' (1895, location unknown) was accepted into the 1896

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

, the official

art exhibition An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...

of the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

in Paris. Tanner's ''Resurrection of Lazarus'' (1896,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, Paris) was purchased by the French government after winning the third-place medal at the 1897 Salon. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. After pursuing art on his own as a young man, Tanner enrolled at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, who had recently started teaching there. Tanner made other connections among artists, including

Robert Henri Robert Henri (; June 24, 1865 – July 12, 1929) was an American painter and teacher. As a young man, he studied in Paris, where he identified strongly with the Impressionists, and determined to lead an even more dramatic revolt against A ...

. In the late 1890s, art patron

Rodman Wanamaker Lewis Rodman Wanamaker (February 13, 1863 – March 9, 1928) was an American businessman and heir to the Wanamaker's department store fortune. In addition to operating stores in Philadelphia, New York City, and Paris, he was a patron of the arts ...

Early life

Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the first of nine children; two brothers, Benjamin and Horace, died in infancy. One of his sisters,

Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson (October 17, 1864 – April 26, 1901) was an American physician. She was the first black woman, as well as woman of any race, to be licensed as a physician in Alabama. Biography Early years Johnson was born Halle Tann ...

, was the first woman to be certified to practice medicine in Alabama. His parents gave him a middle name that commemorated the struggle at Osawatomie between pro- and anti-slavery partisans. His father

Benjamin Tucker Tanner Benjamin Tucker Tanner (December 25, 1835 – January 14, 1923) was an American clergyman and editor. He served as a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church from 1886, and founded '' The Christian Recorder'' (see Early American Meth ...

(1835–1923) became a bishop in the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

(AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States. He was educated at

Avery College Avery College was a former college dedicated to the education of African Americans. Avery College opened in 1849 and closed in 1873. Avery College was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially t ...

and

Western Theological Seminary Western Theological Seminary (WTS) is a private seminary located in Holland, Michigan. Established in 1866, it is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. ...

in Pittsburgh, and developed a literary career. In addition, he was a political

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, supporting abolition of slavery. Henry Tanner's mother Sarah was born into

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in Virginia, but had escaped as a refugee to the North via the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...

. There she met and married Benjamin Tanner. The family moved from Pittsburgh to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

when Tanner was a teenager. There his father became a friend of

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

, sometimes supporting him, sometimes criticizing. Robert Douglass, Jr., a successful black artist in Philadelphia, was an early neighbor of the Tanner family, and Tanner wrote that he "used to pass and always stopped to look at his pictures in the window." When Tanner was about 13 years old, he saw a landscape painter working in Fairmount Park, where he was walking with his father. He decided that he wanted to be a painter.

Education

Henry Ossawa Tanner - Spinning By Firelight (1894)

Although many artists refused to accept an African-American apprentice, in 1879 Tanner enrolled at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His decision to attend the school came at a time when art academies increasingly focused on study from live models rather than plaster casts.

Thomas Eakins Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins (; July 25, 1844 – June 25, 1916) was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the most important American artists. For the length ...

, a professor at the Pennsylvania Academy, was one of the first American artists to promote new approaches to artistic education including increased study from live models, discussion of anatomy in classes of both male and female students, and dissections of cadavers to teach anatomy. Eakins's progressive approach to art education had a profound effect on Tanner. The young artist was one of Eakins' favorite students; two decades after Tanner left the Academy, Eakins painted his portrait.Parry, Ellwood C. III. ''Three Nineteenth Century Afro-American Artists.'' Cedar Rapids, IA: Cedar Rapids Art Center, 1980. At the Academy, Tanner befriended artists with whom he kept in contact throughout the rest of his life, most notably

, one of the founders of the

Ashcan School The Ashcan School, also called the Ash Can School, was an artistic movement in the United States during the late 19th-early 20th century that produced works portraying scenes of daily life in New York, often in the city's poorer neighborhoods. ...

. During a relatively short time at the Academy, Tanner developed a thorough knowledge of anatomy and the skill to express his understanding of the weight and structure of the human figure on the canvas.Matthews, Marcia. ''Henry Ossawa Tanner: American Artist''. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969. Tanner's artistic studies were disrupted by illness, which was reported in November 1881 and said to have persisted into the following summer, when Tanner spent time recovering in the Adirondack mountains.

Issues of racism

Although Tanner gained confidence as an artist and began to sell his work, he faced

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

working as a professional artist in Philadelphia. In his autobiography, ''The Story of an Artist's Life'', Tanner described the burden of racism:

I was extremely timid and to be made to feel that I was not wanted, although in a place where I had every right to be, even months afterwards caused me sometimes weeks of pain. Every time any one of these disagreeable incidents came into my mind, my heart sank, and I was anew tortured by the thought of what I had endured, almost as much as the incident itself.

Life abroad

Brooklyn Museum - The Arch - Henry Ossawa Tanner - overall

In the hope of earning enough money to travel to Europe, Tanner operated a photography studio in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

during the late 1880s. The venture was unsuccessful. During this period Tanner met Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell, a trustee of Clark College. Hartzell and his wife befriended Tanner, became his patrons, and recommended him for a teaching job at the college. Tanner taught drawing at Clark College (now

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Atlanta is the first Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Southern United States. Found ...

) for a short period. In 1891, he traveled to Paris, France, to study at the

. He also joined the American Art Students Club. Paris was a welcome escape for Tanner; within French art circles, race mattered little. Tanner acclimated quickly to Parisian life. There he met Atherton Curtis who became a friend and a patron of his art. Portrait of Mr

He was part of a community of artists in

Mount Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the vil ...

for six months in 1902, at the behest of Curtis, and returned the following winter. Except for occasional brief returns home, Tanner spent the rest of his life in Paris. There he was introduced to many new artists whose works would affect his approach to art. At the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, he encountered and studied the works of

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

, Jean-Baptiste Chardin and Louis Le Nain.Shaw, Thomas M. ''What Manner of Men? A Reconsideration across the Synapses of Art History of Three Paintings and their Images of Men of African Descent.'' Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1997. These artists had painted scenes of ordinary people in their environment, and the influence in Tanner's work is noticeable. That of Courbet's ''

The Stone Breakers ''The Stone Breakers'' (french: Les Casseurs de pierres) was an 1849 painting by the French painter Gustave Courbet. It was a work of realism, depicting two peasants, a young man and an old man, breaking rocks. ''The Stone Breakers'' was first ex ...

'' (1850; destroyed) can be seen in the similarities in Tanner's ''The Young Sabot Maker'' (1895). Both paintings explore the themes of apprenticeship and

manual labor Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual'' ...

. Tanner continued his studies under renowned artists such as Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant and

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexa ...

.Bruce, Marcus C. ''Henry Ossawa Tanner.'' New York: Crossroad Publishing, 2002. With their guidance, Tanner began to establish a reputation in France. He settled at the Étaples art colony in Normandy. Earlier, Tanner had painted marine scenes of man's struggle with the sea, but by 1895 he was creating mostly religious works. His shift to painting biblical scenes occurred as he was undergoing a spiritual struggle. In a letter he wrote to his parents on Christmas 1896, he stated, "I have made up my mind to serve Him odmore faithfully." A transitional work from this period is the recently rediscovered painting of a fishing boat tossed on the waves, which is held by the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Good Shepherd - Google Art Project

This is based on the description of a miracle in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and for ...

in which "the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary" (14:24). The simple resources at Étaples were well adapted to his subject matter, which in several cases featured biblical figures in dark interiors. Tanner's painting ''Daniel in the Lions' Den'' was accepted into the 1896

. Later that year he painted ''The Resurrection of Lazarus''. The critical praise for this piece solidified Tanner's position in the artistic elite and heralded the future direction of his paintings, which treated mostly biblical themes. Upon seeing ''The Resurrection of Lazarus'', art critic

offered to pay all the expenses for a journey by Tanner to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. Wanamaker felt that any serious painter of biblical scenes needed to see the environment firsthand and that a painter of Tanner's caliber was well worth the investment. Tanner quickly accepted the offer. Before the next Salon opened, he set forth for the Palestine region of the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

. Explorations of various mosques and biblical sites, as well as character studies of the local population, allowed him to further his artistic training. His paintings developed a powerful air of mystery and spirituality. Tanner was not the first artist to study the Middle East in person: since the 1830s, interest in

Orientalism In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...

had been growing in Europe. Artists such as

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( , ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: Britis ...

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

and, later, Henri

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

made such tours to capitalize on this curiosity. In his adopted home of France, in 1923 Tanner was appointed Chevalier of the

, the highest national order of merit. He considered this "citation by the French government to be the greatest honor of his illustrious career."

''The Banjo Lesson''

On a short return visit to the United States in 1893, Tanner painted '' The Banjo Lesson'', while in Philadelphia. Considered his most well-known work, the painting shows an elderly black man teaching a boy, assumed to be his grandson, how to play the banjo. This quiet composition explores several important themes. The image of a black man playing the banjo appears throughout American art of the late 19th century. Thomas Worth,Woods, Naurice Frank, Jr., Ph.D. ''Insuperable Obstacles: The Impact of the Creative and Personal Development of Four Nineteenth Century African American Artists''. The Union Institute, 1993. Willy Miller, Walter M. Dunk,

Eastman Johnson Jonathan Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 – April 5, 1906) was an American painter and co-founder of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, with his name inscribed at its entrance. He was best known for his genre paintings, paintings of ...

, and Tanner's teacher Thomas Eakins had all tackled the subject in their artwork. Tanner created a sensitive moment of human interaction. The old man and young boy are shown engaged in a concentrated activity, oblivious to the rest of the world, sharing a sense of contact and cooperation. Tanner portrays the sitters as individuals with portrait-like detail. Tanner's muted palette creates a peaceful scene that emphasizes modesty and family. There are two separate and varying light sources: A natural white, blue glow from outside enters from the left, while the warm light from a fireplace is apparent on the right. The figures are illuminated where the two light sources meet; some have hypothesized this as a manifestation of Tanner's situation in transition between two worlds, his American past and his newfound home in France.

Painting style

Tanner painted landscapes, religious subjects, and scenes of daily life in a realistic style that echoed that of Eakins. While works like ''The Banjo Lesson'' depicted everyday scenes of African American life, Tanner later painted religious subjects. It is likely that Tanner's father, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was a formative influence for him. Tanner was not limited to one specific approach to painting and drawing. His works reflect at times meticulous attention to detail and loose,

expressive Expressivity, expressiveness, and expressive power may refer to: *Expressivity (genetics), variations in a phenotype among individuals carrying a particular genotype *Expressive loa, a type of loanword in phono-semantic matching *Expressive power ...

brushstrokes in others. Often both methods are employed simultaneously. Tanner was also interested in the effects that color could have in a painting.Kettlewell, James K. ''The Art of Henry Ossawa Tanner.'' Glen Falls, NY: The Hyde Collection, 1975. Warmer compositions such as ''The Resurrection of Lazarus'' (1896) and ''

The Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ange ...

'' (1898) express the intensity and fire of religious moments, and the elation of transcendence between the divine and humanity. Other paintings emphasize cool hues, which became dominant in his work after the mid-1890s. A palette of indigo and turquoise—referred to as the "Tanner blues"—characterizes works such as ''The Three Marys'' (1910), ''Gateway'' (1912) and ''The Arch'' (1919). Works such as ''The Good Shepherd'' (1903) and ''Return of the Holy Women'' (1904) evoke a feeling of somber religiosity and introspection. Tanner often experimented with light in his works, which at times adds symbolic meaning. In ''The Annunciation'' (1898), for example, the

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

Gabriel In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር� ...

is represented as a column of light that forms, together with the shelf in the upper left corner, a cross.

Marriage and family

In 1899 he married Jessie Olsson, a Swedish-American opera singer. A contemporary, Virginia Walker Course, described their relationship as one of equal talents, but racist attitudes insisted the relationship was unequal:

Fan, did you ever hear of a miss icOlsson of Portland? She has a beautiful voice I believe and came to Paris to cultivate it and she has married a darkey artist ... He is an awefully ictalented man but he is black. ... She seems like a well educated girl and really very nice but it makes me sick to see a cultivated woman marry a man like that. I don't know his work but he is very talented they say.

Jessie Tanner died in 1925, twelve years before her husband, and he grieved her deeply through the 1920s. He sold the family home in Les Charmes where they had been so happy together. They are buried next to each other in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine. They had a son, Jesse, who survived Tanner at his death.

Later years

Henry Ossawa Tanner - Sodom and Gomorrha

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Tanner worked for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

Public Information Department, during which time he also painted images from the front lines of the war. His works featuring African-American troops were rare during the war. In 1923 the French state made him a knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

for his work as an artist. Tanner met with fellow African-American artist

Palmer Hayden Palmer C. Hayden (January 15, 1890 – February 18, 1973) was an American painter who depicted African-American life, landscapes, seascapes, and African influences. He sketched, painted in both oils and watercolors, and was a prolific artis ...

in Paris circa 1927. They discussed artistic technique and he gave Hayden advice on interacting with French society. Several of Tanner's paintings were purchased by Atlanta art collector J. J. Haverty, who founded Haverty Furniture Co. and was instrumental in establishing the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

. Tanner's '' Étaples Fisher Folk'' is among several paintings from the Haverty collection now in the High Museum's permanent collection. Tanner died peacefully at his home in Paris, France, on May 25, 1937. He is buried at Sceaux Cemetery in

Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine Sceaux () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Sceaux had a population of 20,004. A wealthy city Sceaux is famous for the Château de Sceaux, ...

, which is a suburb of Paris.

Legacy

Tanner's work was influential during his career; he has been called "the greatest African American painter to date." The early paintings of

William Edouard Scott William Edouard Scott (March 11, 1884 – May 15, 1964) was an African-American artist. Before Alain Locke asked African Americans to create and portray the '' New Negro'' that would thrust them into the future, artists like William Edouard ...

, who studied with Tanner in France, show the influence of Tanner's technique. In addition, some of

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

's illustrations deal with the same themes and compositions that Tanner pursued. Rockwell's proposed cover of the ''

Literary Digest ''The Literary Digest'' was an influential American general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, ''Public Opinion'' and '' Current ...

'' in 1922, for example, shows an older black man playing the banjo for his grandson. The light sources are nearly identical to those in Tanner's ''Banjo Lesson.'' A fireplace illuminates the right side of the picture, while natural light enters from the left. Both use similar objects as well such as the clothing, chair, crumpled hat on the floor. Some other major artists Tanner mentored include

William A. Harper William A. Harper (1873 – 1910) was a Canadian-born artist best known for his landscape paintings, and is represented in both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the National Museum of African American History in Washington, D.C. ...

and

Hale Woodruff Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 – September 6, 1980) was an American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints. Early life, family and education Woodruff was born in Cairo, Illinois, in on August 26, 1900. He grew up in a black ...

. Tanner's ''Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City'' (c. 1885; oil on canvas) hangs in the

Green Room In show business, the green room is the space in a theatre or similar venue that functions as a waiting room and lounge for performers before, during, and after a performance or show when they are not engaged on stage. Green rooms typically have ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

; it is the first painting by an African-American artist to have been purchased for the permanent collection of the White House. The painting is a landscape with a "view across the cool gray of a shadowed beach to dunes made pink by the late afternoon sunlight. A low haze over the water partially hides the sun." It was bought for $100,000 by the White House Endowment Fund during the

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

administration from Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, grandniece of the artist. His correspondence with Curtis between 1904 and 1937 is held at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. Tanner's work was included in the 2015 exhibition '' We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s'' at the

Woodmere Art Museum Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the Delaware Valley and includes works by Thomas Pollock Anshutz, S ...

Exhibitions

* 1972: ''The Art of Henry Ossawa Tanner''. Glen Falls, New York: The Hyde Collection. * 1972: ''19th Century American Landscape''. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. * 1976: ''

Two Centuries of Black American Art ''Two Centuries of Black American Art'' was a 1976 traveling exhibition of African-American art organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It "received greater visibility and validation from the mainstream art world than any other ...

''. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. * 1989: ''Black Art Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art''. Dallas Museum of Art. * 1993: ''Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair'' * 2010: ''Henry Ossawa Tanner and his Contemporaries'', Des Moines Art Center (December–February 2011). * 2012: ''Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit'', Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (January–April), then to Cincinnati Art Museum (May–September) and to

Houston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

(October–January 2013)

Selected works

* ''Seascape-Jetty'' (c. 1876–78) * ''Pomp at the Zoo'' (1880). Private Collection * ''Joachim Leaving the Temple'' (c. 1882–1888).

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

* ''Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City'' (1886). Estate of

Sadie T. M. Alexander Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (January 2, 1898 – November 1, 1989) was a pioneering Black professional and civil rights activist of the early-to-mid-20th century. In 1921, Mossell Alexander was the second African-American woman to receive a D ...

(On permanent display at the White House) * '' The Banjo Lesson'' (1893). Hampton University Museum, Virginia * '' The Thankful Poor'' (1894). Art Bridges * '' The Young Sabot Maker'' (1895). The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri * ''Daniel in the Lions' Den'' (1895).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

* ''The Resurrection of Lazarus'' (1896).

, Paris * ''Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner'' (1897).

* '' Lions in the Desert'' (c. 1897–1900).

* ''

'' (1898).

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

, W.P. Wilstach Collection * ''Moonlight Landscape'' (1898–1900).

Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a por ...

, Williamsburg, VA. * ''Boy and Sheep Lying under a Tree'' (1881). Private Collection (On display at the

) *

''The Good Shepherd'' (1903).

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum (known popularly as the Zimmerli Art Museum) is located on the Voorhees Mall of the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The museum houses more than 60,000 works, including Russian and ...

, Rutgers University * ''Return of the Holy Women'' (1904). Cedar Rapids Art Gallery, Iowa * ''Two Disciples at the Tomb'' (1905–06).

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

*
The Visitation
' (1909-10).

Kalamazoo Institute of Arts The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts (KIA) is a non-profit art museum and school in downtown Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. History In 1924, members of the Kalamazoo Chapter of the American Federation of Arts established an art center "to further ...

* ''The Holy Family'' (1909–10). Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan, Hackley Picture Fund * ''Moroccan Scene'' (about 1912).

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

, Alabama * ''Palace of Justice, Tangier'' (1912–13). Smithsonian American Art Museum * ''Scene in Cairo''.

Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is a non-profit art museum in Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA. It is located on the Oklahoma Baptist University Green Campus, being the campus of the former St. Gregory's University. The museum operated independently of St. ...

, Shawnee, Oklahoma

Other works

File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Abraham's Oak - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Abraham's Oak'', 1905 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - 'A View of Fez', c. 1912, High Museum.JPG, ''A View of Fez'', c. 1912 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - View of the Seine, looking toward Notre Dame (1896).jpg, ''View of the Seine, looking toward Notre Dame'', 1896 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Coastal Landscape, France.jpg, ''Coastal Landscape'', France, 1919 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Fishermen at Sea.jpg, ''Fishermen at Sea'', c. 1913 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Young Sabot Maker - Google Art Project.jpg, '' The Young Sabot Maker'', 1895 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Mary 1914.jpg, ''Mary'', 1914 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water, c. 1907.jpg, ''The Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water'', c. 1907 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Angels Appearing before the Shepherds.jpg, ''Angels Appearing before the Shepherds'', c. 1910 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Jesus and nicodemus.jpg, ''Jesus and Nicodemus'', 1899 File:Daniel in the Lions' Den LACMA 22.6.3.jpg, ''Daniel in the Lions' Den'', 1907–1918 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - The Annunciation to the Shepards.jpg, ''The Annunciation to the Shepherds'', c. 1895 File:Henry Ossawa Tanner - Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City'', c. 1885, the

. File:Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1929-30, High Museum of Art.jpg, ''Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah'', 1929–30,

References

External links

White House Biography

Springfield Museum of Art Biography

''Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit''
(University of California Press, 2012)—the most complete scholarly publication to date produced in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), Tanner's alma mater
Biographical sketch and gallery
at the

; Art online
''Moroccan Scene''
at the

''Joachim Leaving the Temple'' (c. 1882–1888)
��

E-Museum
''Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner'' (1897)
��Baltimore Museum of Art E-Museum

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

Henry Ossawa Tanner Papers

Alexander family papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1912–1985

Gallery of images and letters from the PAFA archivesHenry Ossawa Tanner papers, 1860s–1978, bulk 1890–1937
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Henry Ossawa 1859 births 1937 deaths 19th-century American painters 19th-century male artists 20th-century American painters African-American painters Académie Julian alumni American expatriates in France American male painters American realist painters Artists from Pittsburgh Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Christian artists Modern painters National Academy of Design members Orientalist painters Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Students of Thomas Eakins Tanner family of Pennsylvania African-American diaspora in Paris American diaspora in Europe