Provenance
Frederick F. Gutekunst [1831-1917], Philadelphia.[1] private collection; Graham Williford, Fairfield, Texas; purchased 1971 by NGA.
[1] The painting is inscribed on the reverse: "Presented to / Mr. F. F. Gutekunst / H. O. Tanner 1902 Paris", a reference to the artist's otherwise undocumented friendship with the noted Philadelphia photographer Frederick Gutekunst. Tanner presumably brought this painting to America 1903 and presented it to Gutekunst at some point during his lengthy stay in the country.
Accession Number
1971.57.1
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 22.8 x 33 cm (9 x 13 in.) | framed: 41.9 x 52.1 x 6.4 cm (16 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of the Avalon Foundation
Tags
Painting Early Modern (1901–1950) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) was the first internationally acclaimed African American painter, known for his religious subjects and landscapes that combine the atmospheric effects of Impressionism with the spiritual depth that distinguishes his best work. The Seine from c. 1902 depicts the Seine River in Paris in the atmospheric, tonal manner that distinguishes Tanner's best landscape painting. The c. 1902 date places this in Tanner's most productive Parisian period, when he was producing the atmospheric religious subjects and landscapes that made him one of the most accomplished American painters working in France.
Cultural Impact
The Seine is important in Tanner's oeuvre because it demonstrates the atmospheric, tonal manner that he brought to landscape subjects. Tanner's atmospheric landscapes are among the most accomplished American landscapes of the early 20th century—a type of landscape painting that combines the atmospheric effects of Impressionism with the spiritual depth that distinguishes his religious subjects, creating a type of landscape that is simultaneously atmospheric and spiritual.
Why It Matters
The Seine is Tanner's atmospheric landscape: the Paris river rendered in the tonal, atmospheric manner that combines Impressionist effects with the spiritual depth that distinguishes his best work. The c. 1902 painting shows the first internationally acclaimed African American painter working in Paris at his most atmospheric.
