Mosque, Tangier
Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first African American artist to gain international acclaim, traveled to Morocco in 1912, trading the biblical scenes of his Paris studio for the sun-drenched streets of Tangier. In this atmospheric drawing, he uses dense, scratchy cross-hatching to build the heavy, shadowed corner of a mosque, making the architecture feel ancient and imposing. Ghostly figures in white robes drift through the dark left side, while a small group sits casually in the sun on the right, capturing a quiet, candid moment of daily life that contrasts with the monumental building.