Henry Ossawa Tanner's Banjo Lesson

Henry Ossawa Tanner is known to be the first African-American artist to have gained international reputation. He lived most of his life in Paris where he would gain popularity with his religious paintings. However, his most famous artwork isn't religious, but deeply tied to his cultural and ethnic roots. This video takes a look at Henry O. Tanner and The Banjo Lesson.
Support us on Patreon: / thecanvas

[@bircheth]

it's really nice to see how the image of the banjo was reclaimed and washed of hatred in Tanner's painting. it's like a very mature response to an immature insult

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Absolutely! The juxtaposition shows, to me, Tanner's intelligence (which is exactly what Minstrel shows were meant to disparage).

[@curiousworld7912]

The feelings this painting immediately invoked in me were tenderness and melancholy. The 'grandfather's' expression is so gentle, yet seemingly scarred. It's a beautiful painting, and an introduction to an artist I was not familiar with. Thank you, as always. :)

[@bernardtannerjr.6010]

Thank you Henry O. Tanner was my Great Grand Uncle and we are so very proud of him and others in my Father's extraordinary family, including my Uncle Alvin (poet, historian, linguist, philosopher and scientist), my Aunt Delores ((opera singer and poet), father (opera singer, businessman, painter, etc) Thank you Again

[@andrewcarson5850]

That's quite some family you have there, amigomio! My uncles and aunts were more interested in looking at the bottom of a bottle from the inside!

[@nyartist]

As a banjo player myself I've always been attracted to this painting. This was taking me beyond appreciating the painting to appreciating what Tanner went through in his life struggling to be an artist.

[@jjsmama401]

He’s one of my all time favorites. I’ve always loved his painting of Mary

[@Lucaslfm1]

It's just superb how well you contextualize the art background with history. Another great one. Thanks.

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Thank you once again for the comment Lucas! Always as nice and encouraging :)

[@lalalazarus]

Your channel is a masterpiece by itself, thank you for taking the time to share💕

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Awww what a nice comment! Thank you so much!!

[@diegombittencourt]

Love your videos bro! Keep on and on! Greetings from Brasil

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Thank you so much Diego! Your encouragement means a lot to me! Greetings from Canada :)

[@marisolramirez4925]

Being Mexican, I would like to propose your making a video on the work of the Zapotec painter, sculptor, graphic artist and activist Francisco Toledo. He died recently in September 2019. He promoted the culture and artistic heritage of the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, and is considered part of the "Breakaway Generation" in our country, which goes against and well beyond the established school of muralism post world war II. Hope you're interested!

[@jesselay7119]

Henry Ossawa Tanner is one of my FAVORITES! I bought a shirt with "The Annunciation" on it. Thank you for this video!

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

I'm very happy Tanner is one of your favourites! He definitely deserves a following. I just discovered him recently and I'm super happy I did!

[@hawk0485]

Glad you introduced me to this guy, that picture is really beautiful. 5:00 That's really fucked up to see. I wonder if any of the poeple on that stage or in that audience are still alive and what they feel when they think back to this time.

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

I hope they'd feel ashamed, but part of me is thinking they'd say "it was comedy" or "it's just how it was back then"... Some may still agree with the characterization! Who knows

[@gearsofalex2]

Your channel is incredible!!! Incredibly underrated too! Keep up this amazing content!! Congrats

[@MA-hq6yv]

wonderful video as always! you put so much work and thought into your channel, it's incredible! ❤️

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Thank you so much! What a wholesome comment!

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Thank you so much! What a wholesome comment!

[@Hassan-zw9tb]

sad that he didnt continue painting black peoples lives, even though his other paintings look nice those wants hit hard especially when you see that no one else painted black people in such a normal setting at the time. This was a good video man, I just recently learned about the guy and love his paintings

[@jensiddall9296]

Excellent video, as always! You have an error in the caption at 3:52.

[@meenakshi6344]

Very thoughtful video.

[@jayreinke7782]

This is nicely done, and you do some helpful analysis. I could not help noticing how many times you referred to the boy in The Banjo Player as "the kid." I teach HS English and continually tell my students to avoid "guy" and "kid" to identify characters when they write. Those words don't paint a picture for the reader, and I believe they represent what I call "lowest common denominator" language. I plan to show your video to my students, but they will be startled at your use of "kid."

[@cht2162]

Language is always a work in progress.

[@aotoda486]

2:30 I've always been rather fond of Eakins works, particularly the _Agnew_ Clinic; I'd never known he himself was part of another American legend's truly amazing story. 3:52 That being said, I'm not quite sure how appropriate it is to credit the Banjo Lesson entirely to Eakins hahaha

[@TheCanvasArtHistory]

Hahaha yes that was a mistake. However, I should make a video one day on Eakins! I'm sure it would be interesting

[@MixiricaGames]

Great!

[@ninreck5121]

I've spent too much time on youtube, when you started talking about education I immediately thought you'd lead into a skillshare sponsorship read

[@miguelenriquepalacios3906]

Bueno hace años, me cautivo' " Leccion de Banjo" de Tanner, y quiero saber mas de ls vida de ese pintor afroameticano.

[@theweatherdog1816]

We now know who was in Paris

[@Ferdinand314]

Tanner's religious paintings are superb, worthy of comparison to Botticelli's and DaVinci's. Of course it's your right to have your tastes, but you seem to devalue them to focus on his paintings of black life. I inherited a print of The Banjo Lesson, but it never really grabbed me. The Annunciation did.

[@RR_DM]

To be honest and in my opinions, sculptors are always limited by the greed of man, perhaps the sculpture of Buddha or the ruins of Cambodia seem drab and inconsequential without the knowledge that their art were once sheathed in [Au] breh

[@Xeronimo74]

Great essay but he doesn't look very black?