Aaron Douglas
- Painter
- Illustrator
- Educator
Met · 1931
Aaron Douglas met Tanner after arriving in Paris for further study in September 1931. Tanner was then the best-established Black American painter living in France.
- Painter
Henry Ossawa Tanner
American painter who moved to Paris in 1891, won recognition at the Salon for biblical paintings, and made France his permanent home.
In images
Details
- 1859–1937
- 21 June 1859
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 25 May 1937
- Paris, France
- American
- Painter and printmaker
- The Banjo Lesson (1893), The Resurrection of Lazarus (1896), The Annunciation (1898)
- Jessie Macauley Olssen
- Jesse Ossawa Tanner
- Painter
About Henry Ossawa Tanner
Training in Philadelphia
Henry Ossawa Tanner studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. He exhibited in Philadelphia, tried to run a photography studio in Atlanta, and taught drawing at Clark University before financial support from Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell made European study possible.
Paris and the Salon
Tanner arrived in Paris in 1891 and enrolled at the Académie Julian under Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and Jean-Paul Laurens. He also joined the American Art Students' Club and spent a summer with the artists' colony at Pont-Aven in Brittany.
A painting entered the Paris Salon in 1894. Daniel in the Lions' Den received an honorable mention in 1896, and The Resurrection of Lazarus won a third-class medal in 1897 before the French government purchased it for the Luxembourg Gallery. Those successes established Tanner's European career.
An American expatriate in France
Tanner remained connected to the United States while living in France. Booker T. Washington visited him in Paris in 1899, and Tanner contributed regularly to the NAACP after its founding. In 1931 the younger painter Aaron Douglas met Tanner during his own period of study in Paris.
France named Tanner a chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1923. He died in Paris in 1937, after more than four decades in the country that had given his work its principal public stage.
Life events
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Enrolls at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Moves to Paris and begins study at the Académie Julian.
The Resurrection of Lazarus wins a Salon medal and is purchased by the French government.
Is named a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.
Dies in Paris.
People they knew
Thomas Eakins
- Painter
- Photographer
- Educator
Studied under · 1879
Tanner studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, whose anatomical and realist teaching shaped his early practice.
Sourced claims
Met · 1931
Aaron Douglas
Aaron Douglas met Tanner after arriving in Paris for further study in September 1931. Tanner was then the best-established Black American painter living in France.
Studied under · 1879
Thomas Eakins
Tanner studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins, whose anatomical and realist teaching shaped his early practice.
References
References
The sources below include biographies, scholarly essays, interviews, and primary materials that informed this page. They reflect both the historical record and ongoing critical conversations about Henry Ossawa Tanner and their work.
1Henry Ossawa Tanner — artist biography
WebsiteNational Gallery of Art, WashingtonUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Henry Ossawa Tanner page.
2American Paintings, 1900–1945 — Aaron Douglas entry
Exhibition catalogueNational Gallery of Art, WashingtonUsed forCatalogue scholarship used to verify attribution, provenance, chronology, and interpretive context for Henry Ossawa Tanner.
3Henry Ossawa Tanner
WebsiteSmithsonian American Art MuseumUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Henry Ossawa Tanner page.
4Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit
WebsitePennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsUsed forWeb source consulted for documented facts and historical context presented on the Henry Ossawa Tanner page.
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Why these sources are here
These references anchor the page in the documented record and in the scholarly conversations around Henry Ossawa Tanner. Every claim on this page traces back to one or more of the works listed here.
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