Black Artist Left For More Egalitarian France, And Religious Paintings Show Influence of Paris

THE TIMES-PICAYUNE 
By Katie Pfohl | NOMA Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner's oil on canvas, "The Good Shepard," circa 1914. Collection of New Orleans Museum of Art

NOLA -- In this series, Lagniappe presents a different work each week from the collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art, with commentary from a curator. Henry Ossawa Tanner painted "The Good Shepherd" during one of several trips to Jerusalem to explore the lands of the Bible. Tanner, the son of the minister of the first independent Black Episcopal Church in the United States, was often drawn to religious imagery. During his lifetime, he created a large body of religious paintings that celebrate faith and devotion, as well as compassion, kinship, and connection. He left the United States for more egalitarian Paris, partly due to his unequal treatment in American art schools. [More]