Return to flip book view

Kamora Reed|Art History H Henry Tanner Booklet Discovering Henry Tanner

Summary

Henry Ossawa Tanner is an African American artist who was born and raised in Pittsburg, Philadelphia. He grew up in a religious home with his mom who was a schoolteacher and his dad who was a minister, and they thought highly of education. Around the age of thirteen Tanner found his love for drawing and later on painting when he moved to Georgia to run his art gallery. Over time Tanner took ill and his creative process did as well, however, leaning back to his family's religious foundation he returned to the healthy version of himself-painting Christian artwork. Down the line, Tanner made a trip to Europe where he found his new home and took inspiration from French realists and continued to grow as a realism artist in France.

Pittsburg, Philadelphia

Introduction of Style

Henry Tanner was a realism artist whose artwork centered around the depictions of the rural and poor. Similar to other artists during this time, his realist pieces were a movement to display people in their time of neglect and being unnoticed. Which, the common people components fall into the subject matter that supports the realism movement. After moving to Europe took his inspiration from French realist painters, Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet.

Artworks

Henry Tanner has completed a host of paintings within his unique style and we'll cover six. Starting out, the first one highlighted is the painting known as his masterwork, 1896 The Resurrection of Lazarus oil painting Musee d'Orsay. Next up is another painting that Tanner was well known for, 1893 The Banjo Lesson oil painting in Huntington Memorial Library. Featuring the common theme of Turner's work, 1894 The Thankful Poor oil painting in the Art Bridges Foundation. Another biblical piece is the 1907 Daniel in the Lions' Den oil painting in the Los Angeles Museum of Art. With similar features, the 1906 The Two Disciples at the Tomb oil painting in The Art Institute of Chicago. Lastly, the lifeblood of Paris, 1891 The Seine oil painting in the National Gallery of Art.

Favorite Paintings by Henry Tanner

The artworks of Henry Tanner that are my favorite are The Thankful Poor and The Banjo Lesson. The Thankful Poor is one of my favorites because it's symbolic of my religion and also nostalgic. In this painting, it's an African American man and a little girl praying over their home-cooked meal. The colors that dominate this painting are yellow and brown displaying highlights and shadows. This artwork is an example of realism because of its use of common people and everyday life. Next is The Banjo lesson which is also a favorite because of its down-to-earth feel. This painting features an African American man and a little boy playing the banjo. The use of realism in this painting manipulates the audience capturing a moment we can all relate to being young and learning something from a mother or father figure.

Resources

“---.” Google Arts & Culture, artsandculture.google.com.

“Henry Ossawa Tanner.” Biography, 22 Feb. 2024, www.biography.com/artist/henry-ossawa-tanner.

Smithsonian American Art Museum. “Henry Ossawa Tanner.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, americanart.si.edu/artist/henry-ossawa-tanner-4742.