1859-1937
Henry Ossawa Tanner is recognized as the first African American artist to gain international fame. During his career, he deftly combined the painting styles of predominantly white academic artists with those of the thriving Black artistic communities of Kansas City.
Tanner was born in 1859 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Benjamin Tanner, a clergyman, and Sarah Tanner, a self-emancipated woman from Virginia. The oldest of five children, Henry was raised in a family that valued religion and fighting for Black equality. His middle name, Ossawa, was a reference to Osawatomie, Kansas, one of abolitionist John Brown’s strongholds, and the site of an 1856 battle during the Bleeding Kansas conflict.
When he was 13 years old, Tanner met a landscape artist in his local park and was instantly enthralled. In 1879, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia as its first Black student. Among his teachers was Thomas Eakins, now regarded as the defining artist of the realism movement in late-19th century American art. Eakins was impressed with Tanner’s skill and considered him one of his most promising students. Still, Tanner sometimes suffered racial attacks at the hands of his peers.
In 1891, after years of success in America as an artist and photographer, Tanner set off for Europe, settling in Paris. There, he attended the Académie Julian, a prestigious art school, where he refined his skills in the detailed and realistic styles that dominated French academic art. Tanner became incredibly popular in Paris and beyond.
While he was respected for his landscapes and portraits, his truly groundbreaking works, such as “The Banjo Lesson,” depicted the intimate lives of African Americans. Tanner’s upbringing and strong religious faith also inspired him to paint scenes from the Bible, including his revolutionary painting “The Annunciation.”
In 1897, at the height of his career, Tanner left Paris to visit his parents, who had relocated to Kansas City, Kansas. During this visit, Tanner’s artistic style transformed. Influenced by the city’s vibrant community of Black artists, he adopted a more abstract style, using quick, heavy brush strokes and thick paint.
While in Kansas City, he created three portraits, one of his father and two of his mother, in much the same style as he had painted previously. Yet he also painted two landscapes of Kansas City, Kansas, dominated by broad, quick brushstrokes. In this new phase, he found a way to combine the artistic style of his training in Philadelphia and Paris with that of the Black artists of Kansas City.
After Tanner returned to Paris, he continued painting to critical acclaim. During this time, he twice visited Palestine and North Africa, camping in a tent as he traveled between religious sites. These visits further invigorated his passion for religious subjects. In 1899, Tanner married Swedish American opera singer Jessie Olsson. Their interracial marriage was considered scandalous, even in progressive Paris. During World War I, Tanner joined the public information department of the Red Cross. In this role, he painted scenes from the front lines, often focusing on Black soldiers, a subject ignored by most other artists.
Tanner died peacefully at his home in Paris in 1937. His artistic legacy is that of an incredibly talented and innovative artist who achieved international success, despite the racism that plagued him throughout his personal and professional life.