Henry Ossawa Tanner Works at the Musée d'Orsay

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was the most distinguished African-American artist of the nineteenth century, as well as the first to achieve international acclaim.

Henry Ossawa Tanner
1907
Archives of American Art
Three of his works are currently on display at the Musée d'Orsay (click on the title beneath each thumbnail to view a larger image):

The Resurrection of Lazarus
(1896) Oil on canvas

The Pilgrims of Emmaüs
(1905) Oil on canvas

Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany
(undated) Oil on canvas
The French government acquired The Resurrection of Lazarus and The Pilgrims of Emmaüs from the artist the year after each was painted. Both paintings hung at the Musée de Luxembourg until 1922, when they were moved to the Jeu de Paume museum in the Tuileries Garden. They remained there until 1946. The early provenance of Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany is uncertain.

All three paintings were transferred to the Musée d'Art Moderne in 1946 and were acquired by the Musée d'Orsay between 1977 and 1980.

For the past twenty years, these works have been held in reserve at the museum. They were made available for public viewing during the symposium entitled Afro American Artists and France: In Henry Ossawa Tanner's Footsteps, which was held at the museum in 2011. This event was timed to coincide with the loan of Tanner's paintings to the Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit* retrospective exposition of his work that was mounted by the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) in Philadelphia in 2012.

The retrospective, which traveled to Cincinnati and Houston after leaving Philadelphia, was the first time that The Resurrection of Lazarus, which won a medal at the Paris Salon of 1897, was ever viewed in the United States.

Tanner was a student at PAFA from 1879 to 1885. He came to Paris in 1891, stopping over on a trip to Rome. So enthralled was he by life in Paris that he would not get to the Eternal City for another five years. Aside from a year that he spent in Philadelphia to recuperate from a bout with typhoid fever, he lived in France until his death in 1937.

The French Government awarded Tanner the Legion of Honor for his work in 1923.

At the time of this writing, The Resurrection of Lazarus can be viewed in the Galerie Symboliste on the ground floor of the Musée d'Orsay. Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany and The Pilgrims of Emmaüs can be viewed in Salle 58 on the first floor of the museum.

*To listen to an audio tour of the Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit retrospective mounted by PAFA, click HERE.

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Henry Ossawa Tanner at the Musée d’Orsay

Henry Ossawa Tanner
1907 Photographer: Frederick Gutekunst
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia is planning the first-ever retrospective of African-American artist Henry O. Tanner’s work, an event that will be held in 2012. Tanner lived in France from 1893 to 1937 and achieved considerable renown as a painter. The French government purchased three of his works (The Resurrection of Lazarus, Christ and His Disciples on the Road to Bethany, and The Pilgrims of Emmaus), which are now on reserve at the Musée d’Orsay. The museum will loan the paintings to the Academy for the show in Pennsylvania and is hosting a two-day event on November 9-10 in Paris in honor of the occasion.

The Resurrection of Lazarus
Henry Ossawa Tanner
1896 Oil on canvas
On November 9, 2011, Professor Richard Powell of Duke University will speak on the "Valorization, Effacement & Rupture in the History of Black American Art in France." The lecture will be held in the auditorium of the museum (Level -2) at 6:30 PM. No reservations are necessary. The presentation will be delivered in English with simultaneous translation into French. A recital by pianist Sodi Braide will follow.

Sodi Braide
Photo by the Van Cliburn Foundation
On the following day, curator Anna Marley of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts will moderate a series of lectures on the question of the representation of African-American artists in Europe – from Tanner to Basquiat. For the first half of the conference, presentations will be held in the Musée d’Orsay auditorium. Renee Ater (University of Maryland), Anne Lafont (Institute National d’Histoire d’Art, Paris), and Marc Simpson (Williams College, Massachusetts) will speak beginning at 9:30 AM. The second half will take place at the National Institute of Art History, beginning at 3 PM. Sarah Wilson (Courtauld Institute, London), Elvan Zabunyan, (University of Rennes 2) and Huey Copeland (Northwestern University, Chicago) will present here.

This is a long overdue event that art and history lovers won’t want to miss!

For information about the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts exposition, click here.

Musée d’Orsay
62 rue de Lille
75007 Paris
Telephone: 01 40 49 48 14
Metro : Solférino (Line 12)

Institut National d’Histoire d’Art (INHA)
Galerie Colbert
6 rue des Petits Champs
2 rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
Telephone: 01 47 03 89 00
Metro: Palais Royal/Musée du Louvre (Line 1), Bourse (Line 3), Pyramides (Lines 7 and 14)

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Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.
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