GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures presents a dramatic, yet intimate scene. The figures of Christ and Mary clasp each other tenderly as they each hold the scroll from which they read, their physical bond an outward acknowledgment of their spiritual unity. Henry Ossawa Tanner's lush, densely painted surface is restricted to shades of blue, purple, and gold, bathing the figures in a warm, golden light, a metaphor for the illumination gleaned from the scroll. His combination of the broken brushwork, Tonalist colors, and Symbolist subject matter has been compared to that of Albert Pinkham Ryder, without that artist's obsessively overworked surfaces. Thanks to existing photographs, we know that Tanner used his wife and son as models for Mary and Jesus, giving the work a double resonance as both a meditative biblical scene and a tender family portrait.
Adapted from
Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Henry Ossawa Tanner, Christ and His Mother Studying Scriptures," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 243.
NOTES
Added 2012 Guide text to TMS.
Object depicts- Nazareth
Object created- Paris.
Future addition to TMS cataloguing:
Jessie Macauley Olssen (d.1925) as person depicted?
Jesse Ossawa Tanner (b. 1903) as person depicted?
From EAS Dropbox Tanner & Bearden:
Henry Ossawa Tanner used his Swedish-born wife Jessie and their son Jesse as models for the Virgin and Christ, giving the work a double resonance as both a meditative biblical scene and a tender family portrait.
The first African American artist to obtain international acclaim, Tanner is the last great exponent of religious painting in European and American art. The son of an African Methodist Episcopal minister, Tanner studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before pursuing a career in Paris, where the professional and societal obstacles facing people of color were not as severe as in 19th- and early 20th-century America. Tanner's religious paintings were popular and critical successes at the Paris Salon and with collectors on two continents.
Patricia Sue Canterbury, DMA label copy, January 2013
Verify that the spelling of Kaufmann is correct in TMS fields. This draft was originally submitted with the name misspelled (without the double 'n').
Artist info in TMS:
Born in Pittsburgh
Raised in Philadelphia
Studied in Philadelphia
Studied in Paris
Worked in Atlanta
Worked in Pont Aven
Worked in Paris
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
By 1908: Rodman Wanamaker [1]
1939: Parke-Burnett
n.d.: Edgar J. Kaufmann (1885-1955), Pittsburgh [2]
Centre Avenue Y.M.C.A., Pittsburgh, PA [3]
n.d.: Laura Jean Roper [4]
From 1986: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above through agent Edward L. Shein, Inc., Providence, R.I.
[1] According to correspondence in the Collections Record Object File the painting was displayed in Wanamaker's department store in downtown Pittsburgh by December 1908 until the mid-1930s.
[2] Likely purchased for the Centre Avenue Y.M.C.A. A brass nameplate identifying the work as "presented by Mr. Kaufmann" is in the Object File.
[3] Archival photographs by Charles "Teenie" Harris show the painting on display at this location from the 1940s and 1950s. Photos available online through the Carnegie Museum of Arts, Teenie Harris Collection.
[4] This line of provenance comes from acquisition materials issued by Edward L. Shein, Inc. No additional information is provided.
AUDIO ASSETS
Liz Bola, Race and Religion: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Gallery talk by Liz Bola, McDermott Graduate Education Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching, DMA
Object number added to Piction
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
Charles "Teenie" Harris, Painting of "Christ and His Mother" by Henry O. Tanner on decorated easel with music stands and photographer's lamp in foreground, and four men, at Centre Avenue YMCA, c. 1941-1945
UMO pending
Charles "Teenie" Harris, Two men unveiling Henry O. Tanner painting "Christ and His Mother," with musicians in foreground, Centre Avenue YMCA, c. 1938-1945
UMO pending
Charles "Teenie" Harris, Seven women posed underneath Henry O. Tanner painting of Christ and His Mother, in Centre Avenue YMCA, vertical format, c. 1963
UMO pending
These links no longer work as of March 20, 2017- I am listing the links here because the images will be submitted to Giselle to add to Piction.
- Photograph #1-Jessie Olssen Tanner and Jesse Ossawa Tanner posing for Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures~Check out one of the photographs used by Tanner in preparation for this painting.
- Photograph #2-Jessie Olssen Tanner and Jesse Ossawa Tanner posing for Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures~Check out the second photograph of Tanner's wife and son posing for this painting.
WEB RESOURCES
- Painting the World's Christ: Tanner, Hybridity, and the Blood of the Holy Land~Read Alan C. Braddock's art historical analysis of Tanner's early 20th-century religious paintings in this article for Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, (vol. 3, no. 2, 2004).
- Americans in Paris, 1860-1900~Read H. Barbara Weinberg's essay about this group of expatriate artists on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- The artist declared in a 1908 interview: “In Paris . . . no one regards me curiously. I am simply ‘M. Tanner, an American artist.’"
- The first owner of this work, Edgar J. Kaufmann, is best remembered for commissioning Frank Lloyd Wright to design his house, Falling Water (1935, Mill Run, PA). Collectors such as Kaufmann were attracted to the spirituality in Tanner's paintings.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1986.9
Category
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AND
General Description
Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures presents a dramatic, yet intimate scene. The figures of Christ and Mary clasp each other tenderly as they each hold the scroll from which they read, their physical bond an outward acknowledgment of their spiritual unity. Henry Ossawa Tanner's lush, densely painted surface is restricted to shades of blue, purple, and gold, bathing the figures in a warm, golden light, a metaphor for the illumination gleaned from the scroll. His combination of the broken brushwork, Tonalist colors, and Symbolist subject matter has been compared to that of Albert Pinkham Ryder, without that artist's obsessively overworked surfaces. Thanks to existing photographs, we know that Tanner used his wife and son as models for Mary and Jesus, giving the work a double resonance as both a meditative biblical scene and a tender family portrait.
Adapted from
Eleanor Jones Harvey, "Henry Ossawa Tanner, Christ and His Mother Studying Scriptures," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Charles Venable (New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1997), 243.
Fun Facts
- The artist declared in a 1908 interview: “In Paris . . . no one regards me curiously. I am simply ‘M. Tanner, an American artist.’"
- The first owner of this work, Edgar J. Kaufmann, is best remembered for commissioning Frank Lloyd Wright to design his house, Falling Water (1935, Mill Run, PA). Collectors such as Kaufmann were attracted to the spirituality in Tanner's paintings.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Painting the World's Christ: Tanner, Hybridity, and the Blood of the Holy Land~Read Alan C. Braddock's art historical analysis of Tanner's early 20th-century religious paintings in this article for Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, (vol. 3, no. 2, 2004).
- Americans in Paris, 1860-1900~Read H. Barbara Weinberg's essay about this group of expatriate artists on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Notes
Added 2012 Guide text to TMS.
Object depicts- Nazareth
Object created- Paris.
Future addition to TMS cataloguing:
Jessie Macauley Olssen (d.1925) as person depicted?
Jesse Ossawa Tanner (b. 1903) as person depicted?
From EAS Dropbox Tanner & Bearden:
Henry Ossawa Tanner used his Swedish-born wife Jessie and their son Jesse as models for the Virgin and Christ, giving the work a double resonance as both a meditative biblical scene and a tender family portrait.
The first African American artist to obtain international acclaim, Tanner is the last great exponent of religious painting in European and American art. The son of an African Methodist Episcopal minister, Tanner studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before pursuing a career in Paris, where the professional and societal obstacles facing people of color were not as severe as in 19th- and early 20th-century America. Tanner's religious paintings were popular and critical successes at the Paris Salon and with collectors on two continents.
Patricia Sue Canterbury, DMA label copy, January 2013
Verify that the spelling of Kaufmann is correct in TMS fields. This draft was originally submitted with the name misspelled (without the double 'n').
Artist info in TMS:
Born in Pittsburgh
Raised in Philadelphia
Studied in Philadelphia
Studied in Paris
Worked in Atlanta
Worked in Pont Aven
Worked in Paris
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
By 1908: Rodman Wanamaker [1]
1939: Parke-Burnett
n.d.: Edgar J. Kaufmann (1885-1955), Pittsburgh [2]
Centre Avenue Y.M.C.A., Pittsburgh, PA [3]
n.d.: Laura Jean Roper [4]
From 1986: Dallas Museum of Art, purchased from the above through agent Edward L. Shein, Inc., Providence, R.I.
[1] According to correspondence in the Collections Record Object File the painting was displayed in Wanamaker's department store in downtown Pittsburgh by December 1908 until the mid-1930s.
[2] Likely purchased for the Centre Avenue Y.M.C.A. A brass nameplate identifying the work as "presented by Mr. Kaufmann" is in the Object File.
[3] Archival photographs by Charles "Teenie" Harris show the painting on display at this location from the 1940s and 1950s. Photos available online through the Carnegie Museum of Arts, Teenie Harris Collection.
[4] This line of provenance comes from acquisition materials issued by Edward L. Shein, Inc. No additional information is provided.
AUDIO ASSETS
Liz Bola, Race and Religion: Henry Ossawa Tanner, Gallery talk by Liz Bola, McDermott Graduate Education Intern for Gallery and Community Teaching, DMA
Object number added to Piction
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1986.9
source file
object_notes_2_d-0067.xml.nores