The Marcia M. Mathews papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner consist of 54 items and date from 1937 to 1969, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1963 to 1969. The collection primarily consists of correspondence preceding Mathew's 1969 book Henry O. Tanner, American Artist and related printed material.
REEL 64: 26 letters, January 21, 1966 through March 5, 1968, to Mathews from Jesse O. Tanner, son of Henry Ossawa Tanner, conveying information about his father and particular art works; as well as a letter from Edith D. [Mrs. William] Glackens, August 7, 1937, to Charles C. Tough, Jesse O. Tanner's uncle, advising with regard to Tough's plans of selling Henry O. Tanner's paintings. Also included is a biographical questionnaire completed by Henry O. Tanner for the Art League Publishing Company.
REEL 3268: 23 letters to Mathews regarding her book and exhibitions of Tanner's work; and printed material, 1968-1969. Correspondents include Jesse O. Tanner, Erwin S. Barrie, Romare H. Bearden, George Biddle, Mrs. Samuel M. Bryant, Benjamin Mays, James A. Porter, and Warren Robbins.
Biographical / Historical:
Marcia M. Mathews is a writer and art historian in Durham, North Carolina.
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was an African American painter born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who spent much of his life in Paris, France. His work often depicts biblical scenes. Tanner trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. In 1891, Tanner traveled to Europe and settled in Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner papers, 1860s-1978; the Henry O. Tanner letters to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1885-1909; and the Alexander family papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1912-1985. The Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner collection, 1907-1937.
Provenance:
Donated 1969 and 1976 by Marcia Mathews.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
This microfilm collection consists of the Alexander family papers relating to African American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner. The collection includes correspondence between Tanner and Raymond Alexander (1924-1937) and court documents concerning Tanner's legal action against the Bethel A.M.E Church. Included in the Sadie Aleander materials are personal letters from Tanner; correspondence from museums discussing exhibition loans and the discovery of Tanner paintings; printed material, including catalogs and clippings; and materials related to the Tanner commemorative stamp.
Biographical / Historical:
Raymond Pace Alexander (1897-1974) and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989) were prominent African American lawyers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sadie Alexander was Henry Ossawa Tanner's niece. Raymond Alexander represented Tanner in his legal suit against the Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Philadelphia regarding nonpayment for a bust of Richard Allen.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner papers, 1860s-1978; the Henry O. Tanner letters to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1885-1909; and the Marcia M. Mathews papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1937-1969. The Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner collection, 1907-1937.
Provenance:
Microfilmed in 1990 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. Only those parts of the Alexander family papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner were filmed; the entire collection is available at the University of Pennsylvania Archives and Records Center (Alexander Family Papers, 1817-2005).
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Lawyers -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia Search this
Topic:
Expatriate painters -- France -- Paris Search this
This microfilm collection consists of the Henry O. Tanner letters to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Correspondence in this collection concerns the purchase of a painting by African American artist Henry O. Tanner for the Academy collection and the exhibition of Tanner's work. Letters from Robert Ogden to the Academy were written on Tanner's behalf.
Biographical / Historical:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was an African American painter born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who spent much of his life in Paris, France. His work often depicts biblical scenes. Tanner trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. In 1891, Tanner traveled to Europe and settled in Paris, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner papers, 1860s-1978; the Alexander family papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1912-1985; and the Marcia M. Mathews papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1937-1969. The Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library holds the Henry Ossawa Tanner collection, 1907-1937.
Provenance:
Microfilmed in 1990 as part of AAA's Philadelphia Arts Documentation Project. The letters are part of the records of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
The papers of African American painter William H. Johnson date from 1922 to 1971, with the bulk of the material dating from 1926 to 1956, and measure 1.5 linear feet. The collection documents Johnson's career as an artist in New York and in Europe and his marriage to textile artist Holcha Krake through scattered biographical material, including eight letters regarding the sale and exhibition of his work - one from Langston Hughes and two are from Alonzo Aden of the Barnett Aden Gallery. Also found are exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material, and photographs of Johnson, Krake, and their artwork. One scrapbook contains news clippings, letters, and additional photographs. Another scrapbook contains travel postcards. Also found are a few scattered records and research notes compiled by the Harmon Foundation regarding William H. Johnson.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of African American painter William H. Johnson date from 1922 to 1971, with the bulk of the material dating from 1926 to 1956, and measure 1.5 linear feet. The collection documents Johnson's career as an artist in New York and in Europe and his marriage to textile artist Holcha Krake through scattered biographical material, including eight letters regarding the sale and exhibition of his work. Also found are exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material, and photographs of Johnson, Krake, and their artwork. One scrapbook contains news clippings, letters, and additional photographs. Another scrapbook contains travel postcards. Also found are a few scattered records and research notes compiled by the Harmon Foundation regarding William H. Johnson.
Scattered biographical material includes biographical sketches, a marriage certificate, award certificates from the National Academy of Design, lists of artwork, and the guestbook from Johnson's 1941 exhibition at the Alma Reed Gallery. Also found are eight letters regarding the sale and exhibition of his work, including a letter from Langston Hughes and two letters from Alonzo Aden of the Barnett Aden Gallery.
Printed material consists of exhibition catalogs, U.S. and foreign news clippings, and other materials, primarily published by the Harmon Foundation regarding African American art. Photographs are of Johnson, Johnson with Krake in their studio, Johnson with friends in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and of Johnson's artwork.
The collection includes two scrapbooks, one containing news clippings, exhibition materials, letters from Charles Hawthorne, Edith Halpert, Karl Nierendorf, and others, and photographs of Johnson and his artwork. Additional items from the scrapbook may have became detached at an earlier date and included among the material in other series. The second scrapbook contains Johnson's postcard collection from his travels in Europe.
Also found are scattered records and research material of the Harmon Foundation regarding William H. Johnson consisting of exhibition panels displaying original photographs of Johnson and his artwork, as well as translations and notes concerning the foreign news clippings found in the William H. Johnson papers.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1922-1967 (Box 1, 3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 2: Printed Material, 1928-1971 (Box 1-3; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1923-1940s (Box 2-3; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 4: Scrapbooks, 1920s-1947 (Box 2-4; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 5: Harmon Foundation Research Materials Regarding William H. Johnson, 1950s (Box 2, OV 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
William Henry Johnson (1901-1970) was born in Florence, South Carolina, in 1901. He moved to New York City in 1918, and from 1921 to 1926 he attended the National Academy of Design, studying with Charles Hawthorne, and attending Hawthorne's summer school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. As a student he won many awards for his paintings but failed to win a traveling scholarship to Europe. Hawthorne and others believed there may have been some prejudice in this decision and raised money for Johnson to study abroad. From 1926 to 1929 he lived in Paris and southern France. While in Paris he lived and worked in Whistler's old studio and met African American expatriate painter, Henry Ossawa Tanner. He lived briefly in Harlem, New York, in 1930 and exhibited in the Harmon Foundation's exhibition of work by African American artists in which he won the Gold Award for "Distinguished Achievement among Negroes".
In late 1930 Johnson moved to Kerteminde, Denmark, where he married textile artist Holcha Krake whom he had met in Paris. In 1933 they traveled to Germany, France, and Tunisia, which had a great impact on his work. From 1935 to 1938 they lived in various parts of Norway, and Johnson met artist Edvard Munch.
In 1938 Johnson and his wife moved back to New York City. The next year he briefly joined the WPA Federal Art Project as a painting teacher at the Harlem Community Art Center. Johnson had his first solo exhibition in New York at the Alma Reed Gallery in 1941. After Holcha Krake's death in 1944, Johnson began showing signs of mental illness. He lived briefly in Florence, South Carolina, and in 1946 returned to Denmark. He was hospitalized in Norway in 1947 and was then transferred to the Central Islip State Hospital in New York where he spent the next 23 years, until his death in 1970.
In 1956 the Harmon Foundation acquired over a thousand of Johnson's works that were still among his estate. The foundation ceased operations in 1967.
Provenance:
The William H. Johnson papers were originally donated to the National Museum of American Art (Smithsonian American Art Museum) by the Harmon Foundation in 1982. The National Museum of American Art subsequently transferred them to the Archives of American Art in 1982 and 1986.
Restrictions:
The bulk of the collection is digitized. Use of material not digitized requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of the expatriate African American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner measure 2.3 linear feet and date from the 1860s to 1978, with the bulk of the material dating from 1890 to 1937. Found in the papers are scattered biographical, family, and legal materials; twenty-seven folders of correspondence with family, friends, patrons, and galleries; writings and notes by Tanner and others; a small amount of printed material; numerous photographs of Tanner, his family, friends, his artwork, and the galleries at the Chicago Art Institute; and a few sketches and drawings.
Biographical material contains identification documents, awards, family and personal bibles, scattered records of his membership in the Societe Artistique de Picardie and the American Expeditionary Forces, address books, family history, a file concerning a lawsuit against the Bethel A.M.E. Church, and a few records documenting the sale of his artwork. Tanner's personal and professional correspondence is with his wife Jessie, his family, friends, patrons, art galleries, and others. Letters are from various family members, his closest friend Atherton Curtis and his wife Ingeborg, friend J.S. Carpenter who was president of the Des Moines Association of Fine Arts and arranged for sales of Tanner's work in the mid-west, Grand Central Art Galleries in New York, and J.J. Taverty who purchased Tanner's work for the High Museum in Atlanta. Topics of note covered in the correspondence include the sale and exhibition of his artwork and his work for the Red Cross.
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1890-1937 (Box 1, 4, OV 5; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1890-1978 (Box 1, OV 5; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1897-circa 1950s (Box 1-2, OV 5; 9 folders)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1897-1975 (Box 2, OV 5; 9 folders)
Series 5: Photographs, 1860s-1943 (Box 3, OV 5; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Artwork, 1891-1893 (Box 3; 2 folders)
Biographical Note:
African American painter Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Benjamin Tucker Tanner, a college-educated teacher and minister, and Sarah Miller Tanner, a former slave. Benjamin Tanner was very active in the African Methodist Episcopal (A. M. E.) Church, eventually becoming a bishop, and the family often moved while Henry was a small child. They settled in Philadelphia, and as a teenager, Tanner spent his free time painting, drawing, and visiting art galleries. In 1880 he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied under several master art instructors, including Thomas Eakins who greatly influenced his early work.
In 1899 Tanner married Jessie Macauley Olssen, a young woman from San Francisco living in Paris. Also around this time reproductions of his artwork were published in a few popular American magazines, and Tanner began to receive praise for his artwork in the United States. Tanner, however, objected to being labeled as "Negro artist". Despite their misgivings, the couple moved back to the United States for a short time. Their son, Jesee Ossawa Tanner was born in 1903. One year later Tanner and his wife returned to Paris and made it their lifelong permanent home, only occasionally visiting the United States for exhibitions of his work. They also maintained a leisure farm in Trepied, Normandy.
Tanner continued to exhibit his work in Paris, develop his painting technique and imagery, and travel, becoming friends with many artists throughout Europe. In 1913 he became president of the Societe Artistique de Picardie and during World War I he worked for the American Red Cross in France. In 1923 he was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor in France for his work as an artist. Tanner became affiliated with Grand Central Art Galleries and other dealers in the United States and had great success there during the 1920s. When Jessie Tanner died in 1925 Henry was grief stricken and remained in poor health for the remainder of his life. He continued to paint occasionally until his death in 1937.
Related Material:
Also found at the Archives of American Art are the Marcia M. Mathews papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1937-1969, available on microfilm reels 64 and 3268. Archives of American Art microfilm reel 4399 contains the Alexander family papers relating to Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1912-1985, the originals of which are housed in the University of Pennsylvania Archives. Microfilm reel 4397 is a copy of the the Henry O. Tanner letters to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1885-1909, loaned for microfilming by the Academy.
Provenance:
The Henry Ossawa Tanner papers were donated in several increments by his son, Jesse O. Tanner, between 1967 to 1978. Additional papers were donated by Jesse O. Tanner through Marcia M. Mathews, who was in possession of Tanner's papers to write Tanner's biography. Four medals were transferred to the Archives from the National Museum of African Art.
Restrictions:
The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
