Two Paintings By Henry Ossawa Tanner Mla

773 Words4 Pages
Week 2 Assignment 2 Web Quest The Bhanjo Lesson (1893) by: Henry Ossawa Tanner Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Hampton University Museum, VA. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner based his painting, The Banjo Lesson (1893), on a poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Convinced that his race would inhibit his career in the United States, Tanner moved to Paris in 1895, where he enjoyed a successful career as a painter, primarily of religious scenes. This is one of the most beautiful and simple paintings and most popular of Tanner. In this painting above, we can notice the simplistic color value and the rough texture that is concealed inside the shapes. He managed to create a great contrast that puts both human figures in the spot light. Henry Ossawa Tanner was one of the greatest artists of his time. His father was an African Church minister for the Methodist Episcopal church, and his mother had escaped as a child from the Underground Railroad. He grew up for the most part in Philadelphia and started painting when he was just 13 years old. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Pennsylvania, before setting up his studio with the help from the church. Later he traveled to Europe and settled in Paris, which finally became his primary residence for the remainder of his life. Living in Paris, was much pleasant for him than staying in the US. He had freedom from Prejudice, and nothing there was color related. During his lifetime most of his creations were related to church, African Americans as well as people from other countries. He died in 1937. The next painting: The Thankful poor, he painted in 1894. He focused mostly on depicting the humble American black folk, going about their daily lives. His main focus in these masterpieces was to present everything with a sense of
Open Document