Henry Ossawa Tanner and Black Artists in Paris, c. 1900

Overview

Philadelphia painter Henry Ossawa Tanner made waves in the Paris Salon in the 1890s and early twentieth century, especially with his evocative paintings of biblical miracles. While US art critics often commented on Tanner’s blackness, French reviewers rarely if ever mentioned it, and the painter called the Paris art world a “perfect race democracy.”

This course session—presented by Emily C. Burns, associate professor of art history at Auburn University—introduces Tanner’s outstanding French career by discussing the paintings of his in the exhibition and others from his oeuvre. The discussion contextualizes Tanner alongside other representations by Black US artists who used the opportunity to exhibit in Paris to pursue their artistic interests and to challenging racist stereotypes, especially those who submitted photographs, charts, and dioramas for inclusion in the “Exhibit of American Negroes” at the 1900 Paris World’s Fair.

Drawn to France is a course with four sessions:

• November 30, 2021: Whistler to Cassatt: The Making of an Exhibition
• January 4, 2022: Impressionism's Summers
• January 25, 2022: Mary, Louisine, and Bertha: Three American Women who put Impressionism on the Map
• March 1, 2022: Henry Ossawa Tanner and Black Artists in Paris, c. 1900

This course will take place at the museum in Sharp Auditorium, and online via livestream.

To register for the in-person course in Sharp Auditorium, please purchase an onsite ticket. To register for the livestream of the course, please purchase an online ticket.

You can purchase an onsite ticket for individual sessions or the full course, or an online ticket for individual sessions or the full course.

All course registrants will receive a link to the recorded course session, which will be available to view for two weeks after the course. You do not need to purchase both tickets to access a recording of the course.