Henry Ossawa Tanner
(1859-1937)

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Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African American artist known painting religious subjects and portraits. Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Tanner studied under Thomas Eakins, a progressive teacher who completely changed the structure of art school education. Eakins encouraged students to study from live models and cadavers rather than static casts. Eakins eventually acknowledged Tanner as a student and friend by painting his portrait. Tanner made life-long friends at the Academy including Robert Henri, a founder of the Ashcan school.

Tanner’s African American background did not go unnoticed, and Tanner struggled through racist times in Philadelphia. Tanner eventually wrote an autobiography describing racial prejudices he felt as a black artist. In 1891 Tanner moved to France in search of a more accepting audience. Tanner studied at the Academie Julian in Paris and was a member of the American Art Students Club of Paris. Tanner preferred the life-style in culture and did not experience the racial discrimination that had propelled him to leave America.

Tanner studied under well-known French artists such as Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. Tanner’s mentors helped him gain exposure and notoriety in Paris. Tanner began exhibiting frequently and in 1896, Tanner showed in the Paris Salon for the first time.

Tanner made various trips to the Middle East where he painted genre scenes in response to the popular Orientalist movement that spread through Paris. Tanner also made short trips back to the United States. “The Banjo Lesson”, one of Tanner’s most famous paintings, was painted during one of his visits home.

Even though Tanner spent much of his life in Europe, his work reflected racial issues and African American culture in the United States. J.J. Haverty, a collector from Atlanta, Georgia who established the High Museum of Art, purchased many of Tanner’s paintings. Tanner’s paintings are now in high profile collections and museums around the United States. During the 1990s the Clinton Administration purchased one of Tanner’s paintings to furnish the White House. Do you think you own a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner? Contact us. We are the Henry Ossawa Tanner experts.