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Over the last forty years, renewed interest in the career of Henry
Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) has vaulted him into expanding scholarly
discourse on American art. Consequently, he has emerged as the most
studied and recognized representative of African American art
during the nineteenth century. In fact, Tanner, in the spirit of
political correctness and racial inclusiveness, has gained a
prominent place in recent textbooks on mainstream American art and
his painting, The Banjo Lesson (1893), has become an iconic symbol
of black creativity. In addition, Tanner achieved national
recognition when the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1991 and the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2012 celebrated him with
major retrospectives. The latter exhibition brought in a record
number of viewers. While Tanner lived a relatively simple life
where his faith and family dictated many of the choices he made
daily, his emergence as a prominent black artist in the late
nineteenth century often thrust him openly into coping with the
social complexities inherent with America's great racial divide. In
order to fully appreciate how he negotiated prevailing prejudices
to find success, this book places him in the context of a uniquely
talented black man experiencing the demands and rewards of
nineteenth-century high art and culture. By careful examination on
multiple levels previously not detailed, this book adds greatly to
existing Tanner scholarship and provides readers with a more
complete, richly deserved portrait of this preeminent American
master.
Over the last forty years, renewed interest in the career of Henry
Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) has vaulted him into expanding scholarly
discourse on American art. Consequently, he has emerged as the most
studied and recognized representative of African American art
during the nineteenth century. In fact, Tanner, in the spirit of
political correctness and racial inclusiveness, has gained a
prominent place in recent textbooks on mainstream American art and
his painting, The Banjo Lesson (1893), has become an iconic symbol
of black creativity. In addition, Tanner achieved national
recognition when the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1991 and the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2012 celebrated him with
major retrospectives. The latter exhibition brought in a record
number of viewers. While Tanner lived a relatively simple life
where his faith and family dictated many of the choices he made
daily, his emergence as a prominent black artist in the late
nineteenth century often thrust him openly into coping with the
social complexities inherent with America's great racial divide. In
order to fully appreciate how he negotiated prevailing prejudices
to find success, this book places him in the context of a uniquely
talented black man experiencing the demands and rewards of
nineteenth-century high art and culture. By careful examination on
multiple levels previously not detailed, this book adds greatly to
existing Tanner scholarship and provides readers with a more
complete, richly deserved portrait of this preeminent American
master.
Painters Robert Duncanson (ca. 1821-1872) and Edward Bannister
(1828-1901) and sculptor Mary Edmonia Lewis (ca. 1844-1907) each
became accomplished African American artists. But as emerging art
makers of color during the antebellum period, they experienced
numerous incidents of racism that severely hampered their pursuits
of a profession that many in the mainstream considered the highest
form of social cultivation. Despite barriers imposed upon them due
to their racial inheritance, these artists shared a common cause in
demanding acceptance alongside their white contemporaries as
capable painters and sculptors on local, regional, and
international levels. Author Naurice Frank Woods Jr. provides an
in-depth examination of the strategies deployed by Duncanson,
Bannister, and Lewis that enabled them to not only overcome
prevailing race and gender inequality, but also achieve a measure
of success that eventually placed them in the top rank of
nineteenth-century American art. Unfortunately, the racism that
hampered these three artists throughout their careers ultimately
denied them their rightful place as significant contributors to the
development of American art. Dominant art historians and art
critics excluded them in their accounts of the period. In this
volume, Woods restores their artistic legacies and redeems their
memories, introducing these significant artists to rightful, new
audiences.
Painters Robert Duncanson (ca. 1821-1872) and Edward Bannister
(1828-1901) and sculptor Mary Edmonia Lewis (ca. 1844-1907) each
became accomplished African American artists. But as emerging art
makers of color during the antebellum period, they experienced
numerous incidents of racism that severely hampered their pursuits
of a profession that many in the mainstream considered the highest
form of social cultivation. Despite barriers imposed upon them due
to their racial inheritance, these artists shared a common cause in
demanding acceptance alongside their white contemporaries as
capable painters and sculptors on local, regional, and
international levels. Author Naurice Frank Woods Jr. provides an
in-depth examination of the strategies deployed by Duncanson,
Bannister, and Lewis that enabled them to not only overcome
prevailing race and gender inequality, but also achieve a measure
of success that eventually placed them in the top rank of
nineteenth-century American art. Unfortunately, the racism that
hampered these three artists throughout their careers ultimately
denied them their rightful place as significant contributors to the
development of American art. Dominant art historians and art
critics excluded them in their accounts of the period. In this
volume, Woods restores their artistic legacies and redeems their
memories, introducing these significant artists to rightful, new
audiences.
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