Return to flip book view

Henry Ossawa TannerHenry Ossawa Tanner John Grooms

Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African American Painter who was born in Pennsylvania, 1859 and was born to a father who was an African Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop. Tanner ended up studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and under Thomas Eakins. He moved to Atlanta to open a photography studio, but that failed so he started teaching at Clark University. Eventually, Tanner traveled to Paris and enjoyed it so much that he decided to move there and he continued painting there until he died in 1937.

Realism

realism is an art movement where artists would paint everyday scenes with everyday people and these artists would paint them realistically without idealized figures and with everyday scenes. this is reminiscent of humanism ideas and similar to impressionism but more realistic. Tanner was able to strive off of this movement, and his mastery of this art style allowed him to be the first major African American artist to reach international fame.

Style

Henry Ossawa Tanner was a painter during the 19th century and his primary style was realism and specifically American Realism which is attributed to the fact that he was born and raised in America and studied in America under Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Daniel in the Lions' Den, 1918 6 Artworks The Banjo Lesson, 1893 Flight Into Egypt, 1923 The Miraculous Haul of Fishes, 1914 The Ressurection of Lazarus, 1896 The Thankful Poor, 1894

Daniel in the Lions' Den

Tanner also painted many biblical scenes in the realistic style that he became so proficient in and one of his more popular ones is Daniel in the Lions' Den. This painting also shows how good Tanner is about using colors in his painting and we see this with the blues that show that this is night and help hide some of the Lions and add to the mysteriousness of the painting. there is only one bright color in this painting and it is used to highlight Daniel and the lions directly surrounding him, but there are lions all around him and this is because of the biblical story of Daniel in the lions' den. Tanner takes this biblical scene but he does not make idealized figures and make Daniel appear as some ideal figure, Daniel and even the Lions are realistic, and how we see these things in real life. Tanner can masterfully capture these biblical settings without having to idealize the figures and just be realistic with the scenes.

The Thankful Poor

The Thankful Poor is one of Ossawa Henry Tanner's most popular paintings and is a prime example of his talent for realism paintings. Tanner can paint the scene of a family who is faithful and thankful for the little things they have, and even though it is a sad reality for the world that he was in, Tanner was able to depict this sad scene in a way that conveys hope and gratitude so even though we see a poor family that is not doing well at all, we can see that they are grateful for what they have and thankful for what they can enjoy. the painting uses a lot of brown colors to show the dirtiness and plainness of the house and clothes of the family, and the painting does not use bright colors this shows the poor household of the family and how little they have, but neutral colors also highlight the subjects of the picture which are the two guys that are eating. this is one of Tanner's paintings that focuses on everyday life and not a biblical scene and it is a masterpiece.

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henry-Ossawa-Tanner

https://americanart.si.edu/artist/henry-ossawa-tanner-4742