Tanner, Henry Ossawa, << OS uh wuh >> (1859-1937), was an American painter. During the early 1880’s, he studied under the noted artist Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Eakins encouraged Tanner to paint professionally.
Tanner’s early works reflect the influence of Eakins’s realistic style. Tanner, an African American, first won recognition for his pictures of black life on plantations.
In 1891, Tanner moved to Europe to continue his studies and to escape the racial prejudice he had experienced in the United States. He settled in Paris and began to paint pictures with religious themes. These works show the influence of the Dutch artist Rembrandt in their glowing, warm colors and dramatic contrasts between light and dark areas. Tanner was born on June 21, 1859, in Pittsburgh and died on May 25, 1937, in Paris.
