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Museum of Fine Arts Houston opens the Portraits, Landscapes and Biblical Paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the Portraits, Landscapes and Biblical Paintings of Henry Ossawa Tanner, an exhibition on view from October 21, 2012, through January 13, 2013.


Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937), The Annunciation, 1898. Oil on canvas. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, purchased with the W.P. Wilstach Fund, 1899, W1899-1-1

A major exhibition of the work of African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) concludes its national tour at the MFAH. The son of a former slave, Tanner trained in Philadelphia under Thomas Eakins and went on to achieve international success. Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit presents more than 100 works, including 12 paintings that have never been shown together and the only two known sculptures that Tanner completed. The exhibition also features Tanner’s famed Resurrection of Lazarus. This career-making canvas, on loan from the Musée d’Orsay, earned Tanner his first international accolade when it was exhibited in 1897, and the painting had never crossed the Atlantic before this exhibition tour.

The exhibition is organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where it opened in January before traveling to the Cincinnati Art Museum in May. – www.mfah.org