Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937)

Henry O. Tanner (1854-1937)

Nicodemus, 1899 Oil on Canvas, 33 11/16 X 39.5 inches

The Thankful Poor, 1894, oil on canvas, 90.3 x 112.5 cm / 35 1/2 x 44 1/4 inches (collection of William and Camille Cosby)

The Banjo Lesson, 1893, oil on canvas, 49 × 35.5 inches

Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in Pittsburg, PA, to a cultured and educated family. His father, Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner, was a prominent member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a successful college educated author, abolitionist, and thought leader in the AME movement. Understanding the personality and activities of Henry’s father, one can assume to some degree what type of environment laid the foundation for his later works. Bishop Benjamin Tanner was a stoic figure, well known for his proper countenance and good disposition. He was not a man known for being a man with a flair for levity and frivolousness, and the home that he built with his wife was filled to its brim with culture. Henry Tanner grew up in a religious home, with deep roots in African Methodist Episcopal traditions, meaning that education and respect for culture were a premium. Henry’s mother, Sarah Miller Tanner, was a former slave whose mother spirited her north to Pennsylvania via the Underground Railroad. Sarah would successfully raise a family that would go on to become leaders not only in the arts but across social and political genres, including medicine. Henry Ossawa Tanner’s middle name, “Ossawa,” was given to him to commemorate the Battle of Osawatomie, a battle that took place in Osawatomie, Kansas, between pro-slavery thugs and anti-slavery settlers.

Henry O. Tanner developed an interest in art at a young age and by his late teens had his sights set on becoming America’s greatest marine painter. He had many beautiful seascapes by that age and would later be celebrated by many art enthusiasts because of these early works; however, when he reached adulthood, he changed directions. Henry Tanner would later determine that becoming America’s greatest animal artist would be a better direction to take, and again this ambition would evolve towards the religious artwork that he would later become known for in galleries around the globe. In 1879 Henry Tanner would enroll in the then oldest American art school, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There Henry would, against his father’s desire to take a position with a friend to learn the milling business, but Henry would prove to be too frail and of fragile health to engage in the difficult labor involved with milling flour. He became very ill during his attempt at hard work, and both his mother and father encouraged their son to pursue his career in the arts. While attending the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, he would take on a mentor, the great Irish American painter Thomas Hovenden (famous for The Last Moments of John Brown among other great works). He would learn a great deal while learning at this great institution; however, it would not come without its dark days. He was tortured a great deal of his life because of some of his experiences at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and his race was a topic of much discussion amongst his classmates. There was one instance where he was tied to his easel and left in the road in front of the school, and we can be confident that there were countless other humiliating experiences. Despite the racialized abuse that he would face, Henry O Tanner would rise above the fray and hone his painting ability becoming, well known for his ability to illustrate biblical scenes dramatically, and his deep-rooted spirituality was reflected in his works. Henry Tanner also, while a student, had the opportunity to be taught by Thomas Eakins, a premier figure in the history of American art.

One of the more interesting areas in Henry Tanner’s experience was in how he was portrayed by the media, and more importantly, how he was ushered into a representative or symbol for all artists with African ancestry. The media would show Henry Tanner as America’s most significant “negro artist” that was something of an “oddity” or “token.” Many exceptional Black American’s at the time were reduced to the level of circus level curiosities. Henry O. Tanner would reject these portrayals and assert that he was not just a “negro artist,” alternatively he was the most significant American artists. This is understandable because Tanner was far more skilled and better trained than some of his European and White American contemporaries, and the media desired to manipulate the public perception of the art world as being a purely European discipline. The Black populations across the globe would find their artwork in history museums until the early 20th century, and when a skilled figure such as Tanner, it was quite natural that Black American’s would fall in love with his works and disparage his desire to be known as an “American” artist. Many of our great intellectual thinkers, particularly Alain Locke and W.E.B. Dubois, would debate the need for Black American artists to represent the culture and essentially use their works to propagandize the beauty, strength, and ultimately the souls of Black folks.

Ultimately, Tanner would, in a very beautiful way, capture moments from the Black American experience that illustrate who we were in his time, and who we sought to become in future generations. Paintings like The Thankful Poor (1894) illustrate the faith, strength, and culture of the Black family that have given us glimpses into a world long-since erased by time. His famous painting entitled, The Banjo Lesson (1893) was another of his paintings that would not only capture a moment in the Black American experience but in addition attack stereotypical portrayals of Black life. There was an abundance of artists that would encourage negative stereotypes about the antebellum south and the way that Black Americans dealt with the ever-present oppression. His religious works were just as prominent and somewhat controversial to some scholars that desired for his work to reflect a more African-centered world view, however, Tanner, at that point in his career, would display the biblical scenes reflecting the Anglo-Saxon phenotype. There are understandable arguments from scholars, Alain Lock particularly, about how important it was at that junction in history to have a Black artist to be “openly” Black, however, Tanner’s lived experiences and position in life led many critics to accept him in spite of his religious imagery. Henry Ossawa Tanner departed this life on May 25th, 1937, and it is said that he died in his studio with paint still wet on his canvas. Tanner lived artistic expression till the moment that he breathed his last breath and is one of those artists that should come to mind when we think of the American masters of visual arts.