Henry Ossawa Tanner
Henry Ossawa Tanner (born June 21, 1859 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † May 25, 1937 in Paris , France ) was an African-American artist who studied with Thomas Eakins and became the first African-American painter to achieve international recognition.
life and career
Tanner was the son of Benjamin Tucker, a preacher with the African Methodist Episcopal Church , and Sarah Miller Tanner, a teacher. Tanner was the oldest of 9 children. In 1864 the Tanner family moved to Philadelphia , where his artistic interests developed. At the age of 13, Tanner decided to become an artist when he saw a painter in Fairmont Park near his apartment. Originally an autodidact, Tanner began drawing constantly in his spare time and also tried to observe the work of other artists in galleries in Philadelphia. In 1879 he began studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and studied under Thomas Eakins until 1885.
In 1886 Tanner set up his own studio in Philadelphia. After moving to Atlanta and a failed attempt to run a photo studio, Tanner taught at Clark University . In 1891 he traveled to France, where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens at the Académie Julian and joined the American Art Students Club in Paris .
During a brief stint in Philadelphia in 1893, Tanner painted The Banjo Lesson , a high point in his early period of genre painting by African American people. In 1895 he returned to Paris to escape racial discrimination in America. In Paris, Tanner turned to his religious background and increasingly painted biblical subjects, such as Daniel in the lions' den , with which he won an honorable mention at the Paris Salon in 1896.
During World War I , Tanner worked for the Public Information Department of the American Red Cross and also painted pictures of the front lines of the war at the time.
Atlanta art collector JJ Haverty , founder of Haverty Furniture Co. , who was instrumental in founding the High Museum of Art , bought several of Tanner's paintings . Tanner's Etaples Fisher Folk is one of several paintings from the Haverty Collection that are now on permanent display at the High Museum.
Painting style
Tanner is often classified as a realistic painter who pays attention to the accurate rendering of his subjects. While his early works, such as The Banjo Lesson , deal with the everyday life of African American people, his later works, for which he is best known today, have mostly religious subjects. It is likely that Tanner's father had a formative influence in this direction.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b White House Biography Henry Ossawa Tanner . Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
- ↑ a b c d e f Springfield Museum Henry Ossawa Tanner . Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
- ↑ a b African American Artists . Archived from the original on September 25, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
- ↑ Esperstamps.org Henry Ossawa Tanner . Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 9, 2006.
- ↑ Permanent exhibition of the High Museum ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Artcyclopedia Henry Ossawa Tanner Online . Retrieved August 5, 2006.
- ↑ Realism - Realism Art . Archived from the original on October 7, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 5, 2006.
Web links
- White House Biography
- Springfield Museum of Art Biography ( Memento from June 29, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections Biography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tanner, Henry Ossawa |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | African-American painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 21, 1859 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 25, 1937 |
| Place of death | Paris , France |