Henry Ossawa Tanner
First Black painter with global acclaim
Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist and the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study, and continued to live there after being accepted in French artistic circles. His painting entitled Daniel in the Lions' Den was accepted into the 1896 Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. After his own self-study in art as a young man, Tanner enrolled in 1879 at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. The only black student, he became a favorite of the painter Thomas Eakins, who had recently begun teaching there. Tanner made other connections among artists, including Robert Henri. In the late 1890s he was sponsored for a trip to the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem by Rodman Wanamaker, who was impressed by his paintings of biblical themes.
Relationship Network
Master student
- Thomas Eakins Master
Fellow student
Friend
Artworks by this artist (82 total)
- Self-Portrait ca. 1910
- Street Scene, Tangier (Man Leading Calf) ca. 1910
- Abraham’s Oak 1905
- Nude; Study of a Young Girl
- The Man Who Rented Boats
- A.R.C. Canteen, World War I 1918
- The Canyon
- Portrait of the Artist’s Mother
- Street in Tangier ca. 1910
- Flight into Egypt ca. 1916-1922
- Mountain Landscape, Highlands, North Carolina 1889
- Crossing The Atlantic (Return Home) 1894
- Man Sitting in a Chair 1889
- Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City
- Study, Christ Washing the Feet of the Disciples ca. 1905
- Study of a Young Man
- Les Invalides, Paris 1896
- Capsized Fishing Boats, Brittany.
- Marshes In New Jersey 1895
- The Young Sabot Maker