| The Annunciation | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Henry Ossawa Tanner |
| Year | 1898 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 140 cm× 181.0 cm(57 in× 71.25 in) |
| Location | Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia |
The Annunciation is an 1898 painting by the African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. It depicts the biblical scene of the Annunciation, where the archangel Gabriel visits Mary to announce that she will give birth to Jesus. [1] The painting is held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The painting features the archangel Gabriel and Mary during the Annunciation. [2] The event is narrated in Luke 1:26–38, in which Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear Jesus, the Son of God. Perhaps influenced by the fundamentalist teachings of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Tanner uses a column of light to depict Gabriel and paints Mary in peasant clothing with no halo or other discernible holy attributes. [2] [3] This subject treatment differs greatly from other paintings of the Annunciation, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Ecce Ancilla Domini (1850), which a contemporary critic claimed they saw a reminder of in Tanner's The Annunciation. The room where the scene takes place is furnished with textiles, ceramics, and stone flooring—elements that would reappear in Tanner's later biblical paintings. [3]
Prior to painting biblical subjects, Tanner made two genre paintings depicting African Americans: The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Thankful Poor (1894). [4] However, he took a new direction following the completion of the latter. According to scholar and family friend William S. Scarborough, Tanner "had always been strongly religious" and that "it had long been the wish of his father's [upper-alpha 1] heart that his son should paint Biblical subjects..." [5] As a result, Tanner pursued religious painting, a field that was "ripe for commercial exploitation" at the time. [6] One of his first religious paintings was Daniel in the Lion's Den followed two years later by The Resurrection of Lazarus. Both paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salon and won distinctions. [4]
In 1897, Tanner embarked on a trip to Egypt and Palestine. [2] The trip was sponsored by Rodman Wanamaker, whose comment that "in the Orient the light, both interior and exterior, the mannerisms of the people, the costumes and habits of living, all are vastly different from anything that could be imagined in the West" likely influenced Tanner's development of The Annunciation [3] and subsequent settings of his religious paintings. [6]
Tanner intended for The Annunciation to be his entry for the 1898 Paris Salon. Following the success of his The Resurrection of Lazarus the year prior, Tanner perhaps desired to attract more viewers in the 1898 Salon. As such, Tanner chose the largest canvas size of his career for The Annunciation. He was unsatisfied with the first version, however, believing that "there seemed no other way out of the difficulty than to commence a new one." The final version of The Annunciation has been described as "very close" to a study that is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. [3]
Though it has been suggested that Tanner's eventual wife Jessie Olssen served as the model for the painting's Mary, Sewell & Mosby note that Tanner likely did not meet Olssen until after the painting's Salon exhibition. [3]
Contemporary reviews of The Annunciation at the 1898 Salon have not been found, but later accounts show that the painting enjoyed an enthusiastic reception. One writer reports that it "proved one of the great successes of the year ... It is said that when this picture was brought before the jury of admission that a storm of 'bravos' burst forth." In a May 1898 letter to Tanner, Harrison S. Morris, managing director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, congratulated Tanner, writing "The Annunciation seems to be a fitting sequel to Lazarus and it is most gratifying to read the unstinted praise which you modestly enclosed." Morris again praised the work when it was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1898, describing The Annunciation as "very impressive and beautiful." An early 1899 exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy was also met with praise, including from one critic in The Philadelphia Inquirer who called the work a "brilliant masterpiece." [7]
In January 1899, the painting was sold to Rodman Wanamaker, mainly to provide Tanner with income. [7] Prominent Philadelphia art collector John Q. Johnson saw the painting at the Pennsylvania Academy and, as the chairman of the acquisition committee, acquired the painting for the Wilstach Collection on April 5, 1899 for $1,750. Because the collection is part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Annunciation is Tanner's first work to be purchased by an American museum. [2] [8]
John Wanamaker was an American merchant and religious, civic and political figure, considered by some to be a proponent of advertising and a "pioneer in marketing". He served as United States Postmaster General in the Benjamin Harrison administration from 1889 to 1893.
The Annunciation is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would conceive and bear a son through a virgin birth and become the mother of Jesus Christ, the Christian Messiah and Son of God, marking the Incarnation.
Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. His painting Daniel in the Lions' Den was accepted into the 1896 Salon, the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Tanner's Resurrection of Lazarus was purchased by the French government after winning the third-place medal at the 1897 Salon. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
The Annunciation is the biblical episode of the announcement by the archangel Gabriel to Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus.
The Annunciation has been one of the most frequent subjects of Christian art. Depictions of the Annunciation go back to early Christianity, with the Priscilla catacomb in Rome including the oldest known fresco of the Annunciation, dating to the 4th century.
Lions in the Desert is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, painted in 1897–98 during a visit to the Middle East.
The Young Sabot Maker is an oil-on-canvas painting made by the American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner in 1895. The painting was accepted for the 1895 Paris Salon and was Tanner's second Salon-entered painting.
The Banjo Lesson is an 1893 oil painting by African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. It depicts two African-Americans in a humble domestic setting: an old black man is teaching a young boy – possibly his grandson – to play the banjo.
Atherton M. Curtis was an American art collector and a writer from Brooklyn, New York City, who settled permanently in Paris, France, in 1903. He was also an author of introduction, art historian and publisher, who donated numerous archaeological items to the Louvre and other museums. He was also a principal benefactor of the Humane Society, and is recorded as being a strong supporter for the abolition of vivisection.
The Thankful Poor is an 1894 genre painting by the African-American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. It depicts two African Americans praying at a table, and shares common themes with Tanner's other paintings from the 1890s including The Banjo Lesson (1893) and The Young Sabot Maker (1895). The work is based on photographs Tanner had taken, and is influenced by his views on education and race, which were in turn derived from those of his father, Benjamin Tucker Tanner, and the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The painting is considered a milestone in African-American art, notably for its countering of racial stereotypes.
The Bagpipe Lesson is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, completed in late 1893 and displayed at the World's Columbian Exposition and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts 63rd annual exhibition, held from December 18, 1893 to February 24, 1894. The painting was begun by Tanner during his first summer in France, during a trip to Brittany. He finished the work in Philadelphia.
Sarah Elizabeth Tanner was active as a missionary worker and a religious leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Woman From the West Indies is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner painted about 1891 in Brittany, France, during his first or second summer in France. The portrait is unsigned but is attributed to Tanner based on the way it was painted, compared to Tanner's known works from 1891-1893. Those examining the painting looked for patterns in the way the artist used color, the brush strokes, and the stylistic choices in how light itself is shown in the painting.
Salomé is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, showing the princess Salome from the Bible, who danced before her stepfather Herod Antipas, and who demanded the head of John the Baptist as a reward for her performance. Tanner painted Salome as part of his Christian-themed paintings.
Abraham's Oak is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, an American painter who lived in France, completed about 1905. While Tanner is well known today for two paintings in the United States, The Banjo Lesson and The Thankful Poor, both about African-American families, the bulk of his artwork, including some of his most iconic paintings, were concerned with exploring biblical subjects. Abraham's Oak was supposed to be a place where Abraham pitched his tent and built an alter to God, who had promised the Land of Canaan for him and his children, and where he was visited by an angel.
Flight into Egypt was a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, created in Paris about 1899 and displayed at the Carnegie Institute that year, along with Judas. The painting, a religious work, is an example of Tanner's symbolist paintings. The 1899 version was his first version of the painting.
The Resurrection of Lazarus is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner entered into the Paris Salon in 1897 and winning a third place medal. During his lifetime, this was the painting for which he was most known, his "masterwork". Since his death in 1937, secular tastes have pushed The Banjo Lesson to the top place in public esteem. The work was purchased by the French government for display in its Luxemburg museum. Today the painting is held by the Musée d'Orsay.
Christ at the home of Mary and Martha is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner completed about 1905 and permanently in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Tanner spoke of the painting as having been particularly challenging to paint. The painting was purchased in 1907 by the museum. It was also exhibited in Pittsburgh in 1907 and New York in 1908.
Nicodemus Visiting Christ is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, made in Jerusalem in 1899 during the artist's second visit to what was then Palestine. The painting is biblical, featuring Nicodemus talking privately to Christ in the evening, and is an example of Tanner's nocturnal light paintings, in which the world is shown in night light.