beside the easel

The Thankful Poor, 1894 Born June 21, 1859 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Henry Ossawa Tanner was an African-American artist. He was the first African-American to enroll in the prestigious Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1880, where he studied with Realist painter Thomas Eakens and was the only black student at that time. Tanner's work was characterized by an approach that synthesized elements of Impressionism, his Academic Classical training and genre subject matter that was influenced by his Methodist upbringing to include religious themes and a deep appreciation of the landscape. Just a boy during the The American Civil War years, Tanner experienced racism throughout his early life and as an artist in Philadelphia into his twenties, leading to his decision to leave America for Paris to study at the esteemed Académie Julian in 1891. Emboldened by this vibrant cosmopolitan society Tanner grew into his own style with greater depth. He became a highly esteemed Black a...