Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) is located in Philadelphia within walking distance of City Hall. Founded in 1805 by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, and other artists and business leaders, PAFA holds the distinction of being the oldest art school and art museum in the United States. Its current "historic landmark" building opened in 1876, three years before Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) enrolled as one of PAFA's first African American students. Tanner would later become the first African American artist to achieve international acclaim for his work.

Today, PAFA is comprised of two adjacent buildings—the "historic landmark" building at 118 North Broad Street and the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building at 128 N. Broad Street. The oldest building was designed by architects Frank Furness and George W. Hewitt and has been designated a National Historic Landmark, hence its name. In 1976 PAFA underwent a delicately managed restoration process to ensure that the architectural and historical integrity of the building was maintained. The Lenfest Plaza opened adjacent to PAFA on October 1, 2011, and was celebrated with the inaugural lighting of "Paint Torch," a sculpture by internationally renowned American artist Claes Oldenburg.

In early 2012 PAFA assembled the largest retrospective of Henry Ossawa Tanner's work to be showcased in North America. The exhibition, entitled "Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit," is both reflective and celebratory. The exhibition's title is extracted from a quote in a May 1900 edition of Cosmopolitan where Tanner is described as "not only a biblical painter but . . . has brought to modern art a new spirit."¹ This review of the "Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit" exhibition serves the dual purpose of providing historical insight into the artist's influences and a review of some of the exhibition's notable pieces.

The History of the Tanner Family

Henry Ossawa Tanner's father, Benjamin Tucker Tanner, was a former slave who later became an influential African Methodist Episcopal bishop. Born on December 25, 1835, in Pittsburgh to Hugh and Isabel Tanner, Benjamin exhibited a strong work ethic at an early age. By age nine, he was delivering newspapers to assist in supplementing the family's income. In 1852 Benjamin was accepted into Avery College, a training school for African Americans in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. It was at Avery College that Benjamin Tanner met fellow student and future wife Sarah Elizabeth Miller, a runaway slave who was the daughter of a white slave master.

Benjamin Tanner joined the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1856 and married Sarah Miller two years later. The next several years proved to be both challenging and exciting for the young couple. The Tanner welcomed their first son, Henry Ossawa Tanner, in 1859 while Benjamin Tanner completed his education at the Western Theological Seminary in 1860. It was also in 1860 that Benjamin Tanner was ordained as a deacon, made an elder in the AME Church, and relocated his family to Washington, DC, to create an AME church. While in Washington, Benjamin Tanner established the first school for freedmen in the United States Navy Yard and managed several freedman schools in Maryland.

Four years later, in 1864, Benjamin Tanner was appointed to lead the founding church of the African Episcopal Methodist faith—Mother Bethel AME in Philadelphia—and again relocated his family for his call to ministerial duty. The Tanners moved into a large home at 2908 Diamond Street in North Philadelphia and became immediately embedded in elite Philadelphia African American society.² Sarah Miller Tanner kept busy as well. She would give birth to seven children and would later become a founding member of the Mite Missionary Society of the AME Church, one of the United States' first societies for African American women.³ Benjamin Tanner remained at Mother Bethel for nearly twenty years. During this period, his attention turned toward influencing the press to promote African American solidarity in addressing racial injustice. He was elected secretary of the AME General Conference in 1868 and appointed editor of the Christian Recorder, which...