New Acquisition

Henry Ossawa Tanner: Norton Museum of Art

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937), Christ at the Home of Mary, ca. 1905. Pastel and watercolor on paper, 11½ x 9½ in. Gift from Juan Rodriguez in memory of James P. Eskew III, 2022.23.

In efforts to diversify their collection, the Norton Museum of Art based in West Palm Beach, Florida, has acquired an important work by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), the first African American artist to gain international acclaim. The small pastel and watercolor painting Christ at the Home of Mary, exemplifies the artists “masterful rendering of light,” says museum representatives.

In the exhibition Henry Ossawa Tanner: Intimate Pictures, the Norton has placed this significant work, depicting religious subject matter, alongside three additional Tanner pieces to showcase his ability to work across different mediums and with varying subject matter. “Whether in his religious pieces or in a landscape, he uses light to highlight what he wants to focus on,” says Ellen E. Roberts, Harold and Anne Berkley Smith senior curator of American art. “Even in these four pieces, you can really see that. It’s nice to show the variety he was able to work in.”

Tanner found his way to France in 1891, where he continued his studies at the Académie Julian after attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He made France his permanent home after begin “struck by the lack of racism in the art community there,” says the museum.

In the mid-1890s, Tanner began to focus on Christian subjects, when he experienced what the museum notes as “a strengthening of his religious convictions.” He was, after all, a son of an African Methodist Episcopal minister. As featured in Christ at the Home of Mary, “Tanner saw Mary, mother of Jesus, as a symbol of faith and fortitude. He painted many images of her…,” says the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The painting was acquired by the museum through a local collector, Juan Rodriguez, who has an ongoing relationship with the Norton. “He knew we were interested in diversifying our collection,” says Roberts, “and that we were trying to build that part of the American collection that includes Black and women artists—Otherwise, we’re not telling the full story of American art.”
The Norton Museum of Art will feature the painting, along with the additional works, as part of the Intimate Pictures exhibition through March 19. “What’s great about the piece, is that it’s even more beautiful in person than in reproduction,” says Roberts. “We encourage everyone to experience it for themselves, in person.”