The Good Shepherd by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Image of oil painting being described

Henry Ossawa Tanner became one of America’s most famous Black artists by depicting dream-like Bible scenes like this one. Click here to see it on the Gallery’s site. Clicking the image on their page will open a viewer that allows you to zoom in and pan around.

In today’s episode we’ll find out how he went from working in a flour mill to a successful artistic career in Paris and what he has in common with another artist, Richard Norris Brooke. And we discover a mystery about one of his early works!

“The Good Shepherd” by Henry Ossawa Tanner, American, c. 1918
Corcoran Collection (The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Gift of Thurlow Evans Tibbs, Jr.)

SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)

“A Long Look” theme is “Ascension” by Ron Gelinas youtu.be/jGEdNSNkZoo

Episode theme is “Virtutes Instrumenti” by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4590-virtutes-instrumenti

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artwork information
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.195513.html

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/american-art-to-wwii/symbolism-america/a/tanner-angels-appearing-before-the-shepherds

https://www.antiquesandthearts.com/henry-ossawa-tanner-and-his-influence-in-america/

Tanner Bio
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1919.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossawa_Tanner#cite_ref-eoaah_6-0

https://americanart.si.edu/artist/henry-ossawa-tanner-4742

Tanner painting technique
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWxErF_nzd4

Slow Art Day http://www.slowartday.com

Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) by Wassily Kandinsky

Placeholder image directing viewers to the Gallery's website.
Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) does not have an open access image available. You can see it online by clicking the placeholder or this link: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.56670.html

Today’s painting was a real challenge to describe! It’s by Wassily Kandinsky, a Russian artist who was one of the pioneers of abstract art. We’ll find out how the Apocalypse, Monet, Matisse and music all came together to influence this work.

And we’ll find out how Kandinksy’s philosophy behind the Improvisation paintings made him an early advocate for long looking!

SHOW NOTES (TRANSCRIPT)

“A Long Look” theme is “Ascension” by Ron Gelinas youtu.be/jGEdNSNkZoo

Episode theme is “Symphony No.40 in G minor, K.550 – III. Minuetto allegretto” composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Performed by Das Orchester Tsumugi. Courtesy of musopen.org
https://musopen.org/music/1577-symphony-no-40-in-g-minor-k-550

Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) information
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.56670.html

Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) audio
https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.56670.html#relatedpages

Wassily Kandinsky, Improvisation No. 31 (Sea Battle) by the National Gallery of Art, 1979?

Wassily Kandinsky, Life and Work, by Will Grohmann. Published by New York, H. N. Abrams, 1958

Monet’s “Haystacks” at Art Institute Chicago
https://www.artic.edu/collection?artist_ids=Claude%20Monet

Slow Art Day https://www.slowartday.com

RECOMMENDED READING

Concerning the Spiritual in Art by Wassily Kandinsky