Henry Ossawa Tanner

American, 1859 - 1937

Explore Selected Works

Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd, c. 1918, oil on canvas on particle board, Corcoran Collection (The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Gift of Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr.), 2014.136.159

The Good Shepherd

Henry Ossawa Tanner · c. 1918 · oil on canvas on particle board ·  Accession ID  2014.136.159

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Christ Walking on the Water, 1910, etching in black on laid paper, Corcoran Collection (The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Gift of Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr.), 2015.19.3016

Christ Walking on the Water

Henry Ossawa Tanner · 1910 · etching in black on laid paper ·  Accession ID  2015.19.3016

A city skyline is silhouetted in plum purple against a vivid peach and butter-yellow sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The brilliant sky is reflected in the water below, where a boat is moored along a riverbank. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. A wedge-shaped piece of olive green could be land or a dock in the lower right corner of the composition. A few people standing near the boat tied to a pier there are loosely painted with strokes of dark green and gray. A shallowly arched bridge marches across the river in the middle distance. Two towers and a few rounded buildings of the skyline beyond are outlined against the twilight sky. The artist’s signature is partially legible in the lower left corner: “F.F. Gut H.O.T.” It was also dated “July 10, 1902” but only the y of “July” is visible.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Seine, c. 1902, oil on canvas, Gift of the Avalon Foundation, 1971.57.1

The Seine

Henry Ossawa Tanner · c. 1902 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.57.1

Bibliography

1969

  • Mathews, Marcia M. Henry Ossawa Tanner, American Artist. Chicago and London, 1969.

1991

  • Mosby, Dewey F., Darrell Sewell, and Rae Alexander-Minter. Henry Ossawa Tanner. Exh. cat. Philadelphia Museum of Art; Detroit Institute of Arts; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco. Philadelphia, 1991.

1993

  • Bearden, Romare, and Harry Henderson. A History of African-American Artists from 1792 to the Present. New York, 1993: 78-109.

1995

  • Mosby, Dewey F. Across Continents and Cultures: The Art and Life of Henry Ossawa Tanner. Exh. cat. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Fine Art, Kansas City, 1995.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 195-196.