A turn-of-the-Nineteenth-century African-American painter, gained worldwide respect by bringing a brand new spirit to trendy artwork.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., the son of Benjamin Tucker Tanner, a bishop within the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Sarah Miller Tanner, a former enslaved girl. In 1860, the Tanners traveled east, with Benjamin serving as a pastor in Washington and Maryland earlier than shifting to Philadelphia in 1868. The transfer was consequential; Henry was impressed to take up artwork when he noticed a person portray in Fairmount Park. In 1879 he enrolled on the Pennsylvania Academy, turning into the college’s first full-time African-American pupil. It was a doubtful distinction. One night time, fellow college students tied Tanner to an easel and deserted him in the midst of Broad Avenue. Tanner discovered a extra racially hospitable surroundings in Paris and made it his dwelling.
Tanner studied on the Académie Julian and commenced exhibiting on the Paris Salon within the Nineties. His first nice work had been of Black topics, undertaken as a result of he felt earlier remedies had been comical and condescending. From the mid-Nineties his curiosity shifted to spiritual themes, and by the flip of the century, his interpretations of biblical scenes had been well-known on either side of the Atlantic. See, for instance, The Disciples See Christ Walking on the Water, under. Writing from Paris, critic Vance Thompson assessed, “Mr. Tanner shouldn’t be solely a biblical painter, however he has dropped at trendy artwork a brand new spirit.”
“Mr. Tanner shouldn’t be solely a biblical painter, however he has dropped at trendy artwork a brand new spirit.”
—Vance Thompson
In 1897, now internationally well-known, Tanner returned to america and visited his dad and mom at their dwelling in Kansas. He painted portraits of his mom and father, and a minimum of two watercolors. With the portray Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, a brand new theme entered Tanner’s lexicon: the panorama at night time. Nocturnes, serene and evocative, function prominently in his subsequent oils. On this piece, with out overt spiritual which means, the portray evokes the non secular environment that pervades all of Tanner’s work.
A Nearer Look: Kansas Metropolis, Kansas
The composition is constructed upon the horizontal line of the bottom aircraft, damaged by the vertical type of a slender tree at proper and a diagonal path at left. A mom and two youngsters may be discerned within the darkness, strolling towards the left nook. Above and behind them hangs a crescent moon within the night time sky. The palette depends closely on blue, and the impact is solemn.
Kansas Metropolis, Kansas presages the numerous nocturnes Tanner painted in oils—landscapes steeped in darkish blue, inexperienced and violet. This watercolor appears to predict the paranormal nature of his later work, which frequently options scenes from the Bible swathed in darkness, illuminated solely by the moon.
On this boldly executed watercolor, Tanner layered washes of clear pigment to achieve the impact of night time. A lot of Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, was painted wet-into-wet, creating broad, fluid passages, blotted edges and vague varieties. Tanner introduced out delicate particulars within the skinny tree on the correct, the place he added strains in pencil and with a positive brush.
The Smithsonian American Artwork Museum possesses two watercolors by Tanner titled Kansas Metropolis, Kansas. The opposite portray (not proven) incorporates a related composition in waning daylight, the timber and homes seen within the pre-evening hour, lights glowing from the home windows of properties. The area was important to Tanner, whose center title is a derivation of Osawatomie, a suburb of Kansas Metropolis, the place John Brown had begun his anti-slavery campaign.
Concerning the Writer
Jerry N. Weiss is a contributing author for positive artwork magazines. He teaches on the Artwork College students League of New York.