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December Issue 2006
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, Features Works by Henry Ossawa Tanner
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, is presenting the exhibit,
Henry Ossawa Tanner: Painter of the Spirit, featuring a
dozen works by one of America's best-known African American artists.
The exhibit will be on view through Feb. 25, 2007.
The first exhibition of Tanner's work in North Carolina, Painter
of the Spirit recognizes the artist's continuing importance
and influence and simultaneously celebrates the acquisition of
his quietly compelling oil on canvas, Mary, a gift to the
Weatherspoon from Mrs. Helen Lingle, Womans College class of 1941,
in honor of her late husband, Kendall Ide Lingle.
Tanner's art remains vital through its profound sensitivity to the dignity of others and to the important role inspiration plays in individual lives. From his early depictions of the humble poor to his monumental religious works, Tanner engaged themes of struggle, perseverance, and renewal. He assimilated academic, Impressionist, and Symbolist styles with the belief that art could convey a positive message to his and to future generations. The group of works in this exhibition presents examples of those influences.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was born to Benjamin Tucker Tanner (later Bishop Tanner), an eloquent minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Sarah Miller Tanner, a former slave whose mother had sent her children north on the Underground Railroad. Bishop and Mrs. Tanner might have wished for their son to pursue a more practical business, but they eventually consented early to his studying art.
Tanner entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1879 where he was enrolled on and off through 1885. His study under the fiercely independent Thomas Eakins (1844-1916) was crucial: he came to understand the discipline required to lead an artist's life, and had regular exposure to fully professional work. Among the important lessons Tanner learned from Eakins was the use of the camera. Thinking to marry art and business, Tanner opened a photography gallery in Atlanta, GA, in 1889. It proved to be a miserable experience, one injurious to the always-fragile health of the artist. Tanner accepted the common belief that mountain air was curative, and he spent that summer in the Highlands, the lush mountainous region southwest of Asheville, NC. While there, Tanner made small, outdoor watercolor studies that resulted in the large, impressive oil, Mountain Landscape, Highlands, North Carolina, a work that in many ways summarized the artist's formative education and early career ambitions.
Tanner traveled to Paris in 1891 and enrolled at the Académie Julian. His experiences in France followed a familiar pattern for Americans: he refined his proficiency in drawing at the Académie; he labored over a large painting for the all-important Salon exhibition; he painted out-of-doors in the countryside; and he enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow artists. Tanner left Paris in 1893, once again suffering from ill health-this time from a life-threatening bout with typhoid fever. Back in America, he completed one of his most iconic images, The Banjo Lesson.
More than one admirer of the artist wished he would have remained in America to serve as an exemplar of expertise and accomplishment for African Americans, but Tanner was drawn back to Paris where, as he later wrote, he was surrounded with "helpful influences." One of those was the French Salon, to which The Banjo Lesson was accepted in 1894. The importance of Salon recognition for emerging artists cannot be underestimated, and for Tanner it was a clear signal of professional confirmation. In 1897, Tanner's dynamically composed Resurrection of Lazarus was not only accepted to the Salon and critically acclaimed; it was also purchased by the Musée du Luxembourg. A series of major religious oils followed.
In 1899, Tanner married Jessie Olssen, a white American woman of Swedish-Scottish ancestry, in London. Throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, he continued to garner awards, recognition and ample exhibition opportunities. Among the religious subjects he produced at this time was a painting of Mary for the 1900 Salon and a 1902 series entitled, Mothers of the Bible, which appeared in the Ladies Home Journal. By the time Tanner painted the Weatherspoon's Mary around 1908, he was reworking earlier successful compositions and technical approaches.
Tanner expressed in his art the message he wanted to leave for future generations. In the 21st century, where tolerance, civility and human rights remain pressing issues, Tanner's message of perseverance amid adversity, preached with a brush and embedded in hard-won artistic skills, continues to resonate across centuries.
The Weatherspoon gratefully acknowledges the lenders to this exhibition: The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Berea College, Kentucky; The North Carolina Museum of Art; and the North Carolina Central University Art Museum.
Funding for Henry Ossawa Tanner: Painter of the Spirit has been provided by a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and Ms. McDonald Bane. The exhibition has been organized for the Weatherspoon Art Museum by curator of collections, Dr. Will South.
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has one of the foremost collections of modern and contemporary art in the Southeast. Through a dynamic annual calendar of exhibitions and educational programs, the Weatherspoon provides an opportunity for audiences to consider artistic, cultural, and social issues of our time as it enriches the life of our university and community. The Weatherspoon Art Museum was founded in 1941. A bequest in 1950 from the renowned collection of Claribel and Etta Cone, which included prints and bronzes by Henri Matisse and other works on paper by American and European modernists, helped to establish the Weatherspoon's permanent collection. Today, the collection represents all major art movements from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The Weatherspoon not only serves the students and faculty of UNCG, but is also a nationally recognized art museum with audiences from throughout the region and across the country.
For further info check our NC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the museum at 336/334-5770 or visit (www.weatherspoon.uncg.edu).
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