The Young Sabot Maker
Framed: 59 1/4 × 47 1/4 × 5 1/2 inches (150.5 × 120.02 × 13.97 cm)
- 215
Salon de 1895, Société des Artistes Français, Paris, May 1–June 1895, no. 1796 (as Le jeune sabotier).
Sixty-fifth Annual Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, December 23, 1895–February 22, 1896, no. 318.
The Art of Henry O. Tanner (1859–1937), Frederick Douglass Institute, Washington, D.C., in collaboration with National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., July 23, 1969–January 3, 1971, (Smithsonian Institution National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia Museum of Art only), no. 9 (as The Young Sabot [Wooden Shoe] Maker).
Afro-American Art Exhibit, School District of Philadelphia, Board of Education, December 5–29, 1969, no cat.
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 20, 1991–March 1, 1992 (traveled), no. 34.
Exultations: African-American Art, 20th Century Masterworks, II, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, February 1–August 20, 1995 (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, only), unnumbered.
Across Continents and Cultures: The Art and Life of Henry Ossawa Tanner, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Mo., June 25, 1995–April 28, 1996 (traveled), no. 18.
Americans in Paris, 1860–1900, National Gallery, London, February 22–May 21, 2006; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, June 25–September 24, 2006; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, October 17, 2006–January 28, 2007, 61.
Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, January 28, 2012–April 15, 2012; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, May 26–September 9, 2012; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 21, 2012–January 13, 2013, no. 26.
The Color Line: African-American Artists and Segregation, Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac, Paris, October 4, 2016–January 15, 2017, unnumbered.
Tanner studied in his native Philadelphia with Thomas Eakins. He subsequently trained and remained in Paris, where he encountered less racial prejudice.
To Bishop Benjamin and Sarah Elizabeth Miller Tanner (parents of the artist), Kansas City, Kans., 1898;
to Sadie T. M. Alexander (niece of the artist), Philadelphia, by descent, by 1970;
to private collection, Washington, D.C., by descent;
to (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, 1995);
to NAMA, 1995.
Americans in Paris, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery Company Limited, 2006), 125, 126, 259.
The Color Line: les artistes africains-américains et la segregation, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, 2017), 121.
Photograph, n.d., Henry O. Tanner Papers, 1850–1978, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm reel D307, frames 2179–80.
Alexander Family Papers Relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1912–1985, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm reel 4399, passim.
“American Art in Paris,” New York Times, April 29, 1895, 5.
Tanner to John S. Durham, May 23, 1895, private collection (as Le jeune sabotier).
Catalogue illustré de Peinture et Sculpture (Dix-Septième Année) Salon de 1895, exh. cat. (Paris: Ludovic Baschet, 1895), 139 (as Le jeune sabotier), unpaginated (as Le jeune sabotier and The Young Sabot-Maker).
Explication des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure et Lithographie des Artistes Vivants Exposés au Palais des Champs-Élysées, exh. cat. (Paris: Paul Dupont, 1895), 149 (as Le jeune sabotier).
Catalogue of the Sixty-fifth Annual Exhibition, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1895), 40.
“Champs Elysees Salon,” New York Times, April 29, 1896, 3.
“Artists and Their Work,” Munsey’s Magazine 17 (August 1897), 644 (as Sabot Maker).
Helen Cole, “Henry O. Tanner,” Brush and Pencil 6 (June 1900), 98 (as The Sabot Maker).
W. S. Scarborough, “Henry Ossian [sic] Tanner,” Southern Workman 31 (December 1902), 665 (as The Sabot Makers).
Florence L. Bentley, “Henry O. Tanner,” Voice 3 (November 1906), 480 (as Sabot Maker).
Charles H. Wesley, “Henry O. Tanner, the Artist—an Appreciation,” Howard University Record 14 (April 1920), 302.
Carter G. Woodson, “The Tanner Family,” Negro History Bulletin 10 (April 1947), 150.
Marcia M. Mathews, “Henry Ossawa Tanner, American Artist,” South Atlantic Quarterly 65 (Autumn 1966), 465.
Charles H. Wesley, “Henry O. Tanner, the Artist,” Negro History Bulletin 31 (January 1968), 8.
Marcia M. Mathews, “Henry Ossawa Tanner, Painter of the Bible,” Artifacts 5 (April 1968), 3.
“Negro Painter Honored,” Sunday Star (Washington, D.C.), July 27, 1969, A1.
Paul Richard, “About the Henry Tanner Hangup,” Washington Post, August 3, 1969, 122.
Robert Pincus-Witten, “Washington,” Artforum 8 (October 1969), 71.
“The Art of Henry O. Tanner: Washington Exhibition Pays Tribute to America’s First Major Black Artist,” Ebony 24 (October 1969), 61.
Marcia M. Mathews, Henry Ossawa Tanner, American Artist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), 71, 74.
The Art of Henry O. Tanner (1859–1937), exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Frederick Douglass Institute, 1969), 23, 26–27, 60 (as The Young Sabot [Wooden Shoe] Maker).
Henry O. Tanner: An Afro-American Romantic Realist (1859–1937), exh. cat. (Atlanta: Spelman College, 1969), unpaginated.
“The Henry O. Tanner Commemorative Medal Sculptured by Carl C. Mose,” ANCS [American Negro Commemorative Society Newsletter 3 (July 1970), 4.
Nessa Forman, “Lost Painting by Black Artist Found in Basement of School,” Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), 20 November 1970, 1, 48 (as The Sabot Maker).
Nessa Forman, “Tanner Exhibit Raises Questions for the Museum,” Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), 22 November 1970, sec. 2, 8 (as The Sabot Maker).
Victoria Donohoe, “Retrospective at Museum Honors Our First Major Black Artist,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 November 1970, 8.
Dorothy Grafly, “Nostalgia—or Conscience?” Art in Focus 22 (December 1970), 1.
Philip St. Laurent, “The Negro in World History: Henry Ossawa Tanner,” Tuesday Magazine (Baltimore), January 1971, 10.
Joseph T. Butler, “The American Way with Art,” Connoisseur 176 (March 1971), 207–8.
Judith Wragg Chase, Afro-American Art and Craft (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1971), 106 (as The Sabot Makers).
The Art of Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), exh. cat. (Glen Falls, N.Y.: Hyde Collection, 1972), 15, 19 (as The Young Sabot [Wooden Shoe] Maker).
Elsa Honig Fine, The Afro- American Artist: A Search for Identity (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973), 69.
Theresa Dickason Cederholm, ed., Afro-American Artists: A Bio-bibliographical Directory (Boston: Trustees of the Boston Public Library, 1973), 272 (as The Sabot Maker).
David Driskell and Leonard Simon, Two Centuries of Black American Art, exh. cat. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, in association with Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976), 53.
Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists in Nineteenth-Century America from the Collections of the National Museum of American Art, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985), 104, 106.
Naurice Frank Woods Jr., “The Life and Work of Henry O. Tanner,” Ph.D. diss., Columbia Pacific University, 1987, 101, 105, 188, 192, ill. (oil study).
Naurice Frank Woods Jr., “Insuperable Obstacles: The Impact of Racism on the Creative and Personal Development of Four Nineteenth Century African-American Artists,” Ph.D. diss., Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1993, 322.
African-American Artists, 1880–1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, in association with University of Washington Press, 1989), 23.
Lois Marie Fink, American Art at the Nineteenth-Century Paris Salons (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990), 395 (as Le jeune sabolier [sic]).
A. E. Ledes, “Henry Ossawa Tanner, African-American Artist,” Antiques 139 (January 1991), 50.
Michael Brenson, “For Tanner, Light Was Love,” New York Times, February 17, 1991, H35.
Sharon Kay Skeel, “A Black American in the Paris Salon,” American Heritage 42 (February–March 1991), 81.
Dewey F. Mosby, Darrel Sewell, and Rae Alexander-Minter, Henry Ossawa Tanner, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1991), 39, 128–31, 299.
Regenia A. Perry, Free within Ourselves: African-American Artists in the Collection of the National Museum of American Art, exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1992), 160.
Albert Boime, “Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Subversion of Genre,” Art Bulletin 75 (September 1993), 424, 426, fig. 14.
Marcia M. Mathews, Henry Ossawa Tanner: American Artist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994), 71, 74.
“Henry O. Tanner Exhibition at Nelson-Atkins,” Antiques & Auction News, June 16, 1995, 28.
“Henry Ossawa Tanner,” Wednesday Magazine (Kansas City, Mo.), June 21, 1995, 9.
Charles Cowdrick, “An Artist First,” Pitch Weekly (Kansas City, Mo.), July 13–19, 1995, 25.
David Conrads, “Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Link to Black Church Inspired His Painting,” Christian Science Monitor, August 11, 1995, 10.
Exultations: African-American Art, 20th Century Masterworks, II, exh. cat. (New York: Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 1995), 4–5, 48.
Dewey F. Mosby, Across Continents and Cultures: The Art and Life of Henry Ossawa Tanner, exh. cat. (Kansas City, Mo.: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1995), 30, 36–37, 65, 90.
Sabrina L. Miller, “Black Artist at Last Gets Due on History’s Canvas,” Chicago Tribune, January 21, 1996, 2.
Garrett Holg, “Beyond Color: Black Artist Found Acceptance in Europe of 1890,” Chicago Sun-Times, January 21, 1996, 9.
Alan G. Artner, “Beyond Heritage: Tanner’s Works Owe Much to European Ideas,” Chicago Tribune, February 11, 1996, sec. 7, 6.
Julie Aronson, “Important Tanner Painting Acquired,” Calendar of Events (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), November 1996, 1–2.
A. Scharnhorst, “Ten Treasures of Kansas City,” Star Magazine (Kansas City, Mo.), December 1, 1996, advertising special sec., 13.
William E. Taylor and Harriet G. Warkel, A Shared Heritage: Art by Four African Americans, exh. cat. (Bloomington: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1996), 18.
Crystal A. Britton, African American Art: The Long Struggle (New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1996), 32.
Lawrence R. Rodgers, Canaan Bound: The African-American Great Migration Novel (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 42.
Amy Kurtz, “‘Look Well to the Ways of the Household, and Eat Not the Bread of Idleness’: Individual, Family, and Community in Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Spinning by Firelight—The Boyhood of George Washington Gray,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, 1997–98, 64n3.
Delia Crutchfield Cook, “Henry Ossawa Tanner: An African American Influence in Greater Kansas City,” Kawsmouth: A Journal of Regional History 3 (Winter/Spring 2001), 70.
M. Rachael Arauz, “Identity and Anonymity in Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Portrait of the Artist’s Mother,” Rutgers Art Review 19 (2001), 42.
Marcus Bruce, Henry Ossawa Tanner: A Spiritual Biography (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002), 83, 87, 106, 132, 135.
Kathleen Adler, Erica E. Hirshler, and H. Barbara Weinberg, Americans in Paris, 1860–1900, exh. cat. (London: National Gallery London, 2006), 125, 126, 259 (repro.).
Jo-Ann Morgan, Uncle Tom's Cabin as Visual Culture (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007), 192, 194.
Margaret C. Conrads, ed. The Collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: American Paintings to 1945 (Kansas City, Mo.: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2007), 1: 520–525, 2: 233–235.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 171.
Anna O. Marley, Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 22, 110, 115, 126, 191, plate 26.
Ken Johnson, “An African-American Painter Who Tried to Transcend Race,” The New York Times, February 10, 2012, C33.
Daniel Soutif, ed., The color line: les artistes africains-américains et la segregation 1865–2016, exh. cat. (Paris: Musée du quai Branly—Jacques Chirac and Flammarion, 2016), 121 (repro.).
