St. James Guide to Black Artists
Developed by Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, MontanaSt. James Press, 1997
Excerpt:
“Henry Ossawa Tanner is best remembered for his poignant genre paintings of African Americans during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Well-known works include Old Couple Looking at Lincoln (c.1892-93), with the couple gazing humbly and admiringly at a portrait of Abraham Lincoln; The Grateful Poor (1896), with a father and son at a modest table engaged in prayer; and the famous Banjo Lesson, in which an aged black man teaches a young barefoot boy how to play the banjo.
In his genre paintings Tanner attempted to redefine and recontextualize the former slave, whose economic condition had not dramatically improved since emancipation. In their poverty his subjects show a dignity that was not often afforded them in nineteenth-century art or even in later twentieth-century paintings. Tanner studied with Thomas Eakins, one of the few nineteenth-century white American artists who sensitively humanized his portrayals of blacks and did not exaggerate or treat their physiognomy as laughable. Tanner respected Eakins for placing black people in the realm of humanity, and when Eakins suggested that Tanner go to the South to paint his people, he complied.” (Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, Montana)
Founded in 1995, Thomas Riggs & Company is a book developer and publisher based in Missoula, Montana. It has won numerous awards, including Booklist Editors' Choice and the American Library Association's RUSA.
Developed by Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, MontanaSt. James Press, 1997
Excerpt:
“Henry Ossawa Tanner is best remembered for his poignant genre paintings of African Americans during the last decade of the nineteenth century. Well-known works include Old Couple Looking at Lincoln (c.1892-93), with the couple gazing humbly and admiringly at a portrait of Abraham Lincoln; The Grateful Poor (1896), with a father and son at a modest table engaged in prayer; and the famous Banjo Lesson, in which an aged black man teaches a young barefoot boy how to play the banjo.
In his genre paintings Tanner attempted to redefine and recontextualize the former slave, whose economic condition had not dramatically improved since emancipation. In their poverty his subjects show a dignity that was not often afforded them in nineteenth-century art or even in later twentieth-century paintings. Tanner studied with Thomas Eakins, one of the few nineteenth-century white American artists who sensitively humanized his portrayals of blacks and did not exaggerate or treat their physiognomy as laughable. Tanner respected Eakins for placing black people in the realm of humanity, and when Eakins suggested that Tanner go to the South to paint his people, he complied.” (Thomas Riggs & Company, Missoula, Montana)
Founded in 1995, Thomas Riggs & Company is a book developer and publisher based in Missoula, Montana. It has won numerous awards, including Booklist Editors' Choice and the American Library Association's RUSA.
