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It's not the technique, it's the story
Henry O. Tanner at Pennsylvania Academy (2nd review)
The admirable thing about the work of Henry Ossawa Tanner is that it takes us back to a time when Art was expected to be readily accessible to the public and not a puzzle to be solved.
It was narrative. It told a story. It pointed up a moral— and sometimes in not so subtle a manner.
Henry O. Tanner's world is the world of French Academic art. Even in his landscapes, he shows no real interest in the techniques of the new-boy Impressionists. His View of the Seine, Looking Toward Notre Dame and The Seine: Evening are closer to the work being done by Sargent and Whistler than to Monet and Pissarro.
His many Biblical scenes are masterpieces of tone, and it comes as no surprise to encounter a laudatory quote in the Pennsylvania Academy exhibit signage from the American Symbolist poet and critic Vance Thompson. The Symbolists didn't much like Impressionism, either. The Biblical scenes have both a pre-Raphaelite carefulness of line and delicacy of sentiment as well as the mysterious bluish-greenish-grayish tonalities so loved by the Symbolist artists.
No angels with wings
They also convey a pronounced rationalist tone. Not only does Tanner attempt to offer authenticity in regard to backgrounds and costumes, he attempts to depict the supernatural in a rational manner.
Thus in his depiction of The Annunciation, there are no androgynous angels sprouting six-foot wings from their shoulder blades; instead we get a pulsating pillar of light. (Tanner repeats this effect in a nocturne depicting Christ walking to his disciples on the waters of the Sea of Galilee; instead of a ghostly figure, we see simply a glowing light.)
Tanner's several depictions of the meeting of Christ and Nicodemus all breathe within an atmosphere of mystery and tension. The 1927 version is a veritable riot of blues and greens.
Christ as physician
But Tanner doesn't always fall back on lights and shadows. His depiction of Lazarus Raised From the Dead contains none of the awe of Rembrandt or the physical immediacy of Van Gogh. Instead Tanner presents an image of what could almost be a doctor tending to a patient. And you find real dignity, and more than a little sorrow, in Tanner's profile depiction of the Savior.
About half of the show is devoted to Tanner's Biblical scenes and the genre paintings he created in the Middle East. (Oriental scenes were always a great favorite of the Academy and its patrons.)
Toward the end of the show, we encounter scenes of the French countryside and coastline, painted after World War I. Here we see that right up into the 1920s, Tanner remained faithful to his essential tonal vision of art. The works are very beautiful, but they give us pause when we realize that au courant art was the work of the Cubists and the Surrealists. You could argue that the artistic world passed Tanner by, but judging from the number of people who still find pleasure in his vision, I would say that perhaps we have caught up to him.♦
To read another review by Anne R. Fabbri, click here.
To read another review by Robert Zaller, click here.
It was narrative. It told a story. It pointed up a moral— and sometimes in not so subtle a manner.
Henry O. Tanner's world is the world of French Academic art. Even in his landscapes, he shows no real interest in the techniques of the new-boy Impressionists. His View of the Seine, Looking Toward Notre Dame and The Seine: Evening are closer to the work being done by Sargent and Whistler than to Monet and Pissarro.
His many Biblical scenes are masterpieces of tone, and it comes as no surprise to encounter a laudatory quote in the Pennsylvania Academy exhibit signage from the American Symbolist poet and critic Vance Thompson. The Symbolists didn't much like Impressionism, either. The Biblical scenes have both a pre-Raphaelite carefulness of line and delicacy of sentiment as well as the mysterious bluish-greenish-grayish tonalities so loved by the Symbolist artists.
No angels with wings
They also convey a pronounced rationalist tone. Not only does Tanner attempt to offer authenticity in regard to backgrounds and costumes, he attempts to depict the supernatural in a rational manner.
Thus in his depiction of The Annunciation, there are no androgynous angels sprouting six-foot wings from their shoulder blades; instead we get a pulsating pillar of light. (Tanner repeats this effect in a nocturne depicting Christ walking to his disciples on the waters of the Sea of Galilee; instead of a ghostly figure, we see simply a glowing light.)
Tanner's several depictions of the meeting of Christ and Nicodemus all breathe within an atmosphere of mystery and tension. The 1927 version is a veritable riot of blues and greens.
Christ as physician
But Tanner doesn't always fall back on lights and shadows. His depiction of Lazarus Raised From the Dead contains none of the awe of Rembrandt or the physical immediacy of Van Gogh. Instead Tanner presents an image of what could almost be a doctor tending to a patient. And you find real dignity, and more than a little sorrow, in Tanner's profile depiction of the Savior.
About half of the show is devoted to Tanner's Biblical scenes and the genre paintings he created in the Middle East. (Oriental scenes were always a great favorite of the Academy and its patrons.)
Toward the end of the show, we encounter scenes of the French countryside and coastline, painted after World War I. Here we see that right up into the 1920s, Tanner remained faithful to his essential tonal vision of art. The works are very beautiful, but they give us pause when we realize that au courant art was the work of the Cubists and the Surrealists. You could argue that the artistic world passed Tanner by, but judging from the number of people who still find pleasure in his vision, I would say that perhaps we have caught up to him.♦
To read another review by Anne R. Fabbri, click here.
To read another review by Robert Zaller, click here.
What, When, Where
“Henry Ossawa Tanner: Modern Spirit.†Through April 15, 2012 at Hamilton Hall, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 128 N. Broad St. (at Cherry). (215) 972-7625 or www.pafa.org.
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