Henry Ossawa Tanner

Fine artist Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859 - 1937). One of the first African-American artists to achieve a reputation in both America and Europe, Henry Ossawa Tanner worked in the Naturalist and genre traditions of American art. Though his work grew increasingly mainstream and allegorical, his early depictions of humble black folk about their daily lives are regarded as classic statements of African-American pride and dignity. Against his religious parents’ wishes, Henry Ossawa Tanner pursued a career in art, enrolling at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There he studied under Thomas Eakins who first introduced him to photography. In an effort to make a living, Tanner moved to Atlanta and set up a photographic studio that ended in failure. After a brief period as an art teacher, Tanner moved to Paris and studied at the Academie Julien. He traveled across the Middle East and gathered source material to create his religious paintings. Tanner served in World War I as a member of the Red Cross and became a Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur.

The very color-blindness Tanner aspired to in the judgement of his own work, he applied as a credo to his later opus. His protagonists-- black, white, Arab, Jewish--and his Christian themes are compelling in their universal humanity.