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Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Good Shepherd
Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting, "The Good Shepherd," showcases faith and compassion through a unique lens. As an African American artist, Tanner's use of light and shadow crafts a serene, spiritual scene. His personal and relatable interpretation of biblical stories shines through in his work. Created by Smarthistory.
Video transcript
(soothing piano music) - [Host 1] We're in the
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and we're looking at a beautiful painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner
called "The Good Shepherd." And this dates to 1917. So, we're toward the end
of the First World War. And Tanner is an artist
who reached the pinnacle of success in the art world. - [Host 2] He is exhibiting across Paris winning awards, being recognized for this modern spirit
given to religious subjects. And Tanner stayed true
to biblical subjects as the primary subject
matter for his work. - [Host 1] He was a deeply religious man. It's partly from his family life. His father was a reverend in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and although early in his
career he did genre scenes with black figures, he did spend most of his career
painting biblical subjects. But this is not a painting of Christ telling the parable of the Good Shepherd. This is the idea of
humanity as a flock of sheep who are in need of guidance, who are in need of protection, and Christ as the one who is willing to give his life for his sheep and to protect them and not abandon them. That story is told here
with such minimal means, and yet it comes across so strongly. The figure with his head slightly bowed, looking down at his sheep. The sheep who nuzzles
close to him in a sweet and affectionate way that
makes us feel, I think, the importance of the
divine for human beings, the interest in color
harmonies remove this from the everyday world, so that we know that
we're looking at something that is visionary. - [Host 2] We have blues
and purples and greens. The way that Tanner captured
almost that blinding light of midday that doesn't
even have many shadows pooling around the figures or this vast flock of sheep behind him or the donkey that's right next to him. - [Host 1] That might be
what he saw when he visited, what he understood is the holy land in the Middle East and
North Africa bringing up authenticity to these biblical scenes. Well, it's important to him. - [Host 2] There's also
something about the importance of this message at this time when Europe is attempting to pull
itself back together, and Tanner is in France. He's seeing the effects of World War I. So, I think that's an important context from which to see this other worldliness. - [Host 1] And bringing
these biblical scenes into the modern world. I mean, this doesn't look
like the modern world, but this is a modern way of painting. The figure doesn't wear a halo. We can't see his features. It's not painted in that
traditional academic way, but in a way that's loose. This open brushwork that's
been informed by impressionism turning away from the
realism of impressionism to something more dreamlike and visionary. - [Host 2] So, Henry Ossawa
Tanner is trained in Paris, but even before that, he does attend the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts. He studies with Thomas Eakins. The racism in the United
States at the time is too much, and he finds much more
artistic freedom in Paris. - [Host 1] And in fact, he
returns home to Philadelphia and to the United States
a couple of times, but resolves to go back and
stay because of the racism. Essentially, every time he's mentioned in the American press, it's always Henry Ossawa
Tanner, the Negro painter. And of course, being an African American is part of his heritage. He was born just years
before the Civil War. His father was a freed man. His mother had been freed from slavery when she was young. This is an important part of his heritage, but it's not all of what he was. When you read Tanner's
biography, you feel this pressure that was placed on him
to represent his race. That was the term that was used. He was so successful that
he was understood to prove that African Americans
formerly enslaved people could be cultured, could be great artists, which was held to be the
realm of white people. And instead of continuing
his early interest in genre painting and scenes of everyday life of African Americans, this need that was put on
him to represent his race, he doesn't do that. He is a deeply religious
man who holds true to his faith and using
his art to express that and to bring a deep humanity
and feeling to his audience. - [Host] Tanner says, "My effort has been to not only put the biblical incident in the original setting, but at the same time give the human touch which makes the whole world kin and whichever remains the same." (soothing piano music) (piano music ending)