Moonrise, Tangier

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Artist/Maker Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859 – 1937 (active France))

Datec. 1912

MediumOil on plywood

DimensionsOverall: 19 1/2 × 23 1/2 in. (49.5 × 59.7 cm) Frame: 25 5/8 × 29 5/8 × 1 in. (65.1 × 75.2 × 2.5 cm)

Credit LineGift of Elihu Root, Jr., Class of 1936

Object number1992.8

On view

DescriptionHenry Ossawa Tanner studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia before moving to Paris in 1891 for further training and to escape the racial prejudice he had encountered while attempting to establish a career as a Black artist in the United States. He first garnered success with his painting The Resurrection of Lazarus at the Paris Salon of 1897. Moonrise, Tangier evokes the academic tradition of “Orientalism,” which had become popular in France in the late nineteenth century. Tanner was probably trained in this approach by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, his instructor at the Académie Julian in Paris. He visited the Near East for the first time in 1897; only later, after 1910, did he begin to travel to the parts of North Africa that had been colonized by the French. He painted this work in Morocco, and it, like many of his “Orientalist” paintings, may have been based on photographs and tourist postcards as well as on direct observation. Tanner’s interest in the Near East stemmed not only from his artistic training but also from the region’s suitability as a setting for religious content. In painting biblical subject matter, Tanner was not unique; Christian themes were common in visual arts of the period and could be found in the work of Eakins and John Singer Sargent, among other prominent American artists. Tanner may also have been influenced in this regard by his upbringing, however—his father was a prominent bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and editor of the Christian Recorder and A.M.E. Church Review. Moonrise, Tangier presents a fairly straightforward moonlit scene, but the two figures on horseback in the right foreground suggest the Flight into Egypt—a classic theme in the history of art that Tanner first essayed in 1899 and repeated numerous times throughout his career. Beginning in the late 1890s, as seen here, Tanner’s style and technique shifted under the influence of French Impressionism: he started to apply his paint much more thickly and in layers. In addition, to paint nocturnal scenes, such as this work, he applied thin glazes of bluish green and purple to convey a sense of moonlight. (SOURCE: Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS, 2017)

Collections

Additional Details

Exhibition History 2024-2025
Clinton, NY. The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College. "Menagerie: Animals in Art from the Wellin Museum," September 7, 2024 –June 8, 2025 (no cat.).

2017
Clinton, NY (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Hamilton College). "Innovative Approaches, Honored Traditions: The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Five Years, Highlights from the Permanent Collection," September 9 - December 10, 2017 (cat. no. 57, illus.);

2007
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Highlights from the Permanent Collection," February 19 - April 15, 2007 (no catalog);

2006
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Selections from the Permanent Collection," January 16 - December 30, 2006 (no catalog);

2005
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College). "Hamilton Collects, A Century of Curiosities: The Story of the Hamilton College Collection", September 29 - December 30, 2005 (unnumbered cat., illus., 42);

1995-96
Kansas City, MO (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art). "Across Continents and Cultures: The Art and Life of Henry Ossawa Tanner," June 25 - August 20, 1995 (no cat.); traveled to: Dallas, TX (Dallas Museum of Art), September 14 - December 31, 1995; Chicago, IL (Terra Museum of Art), January 12 - May 5, 1996;

1995
Clinton, NY (Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Gallery II). "Landscapes from the Hamilton College Collection," January 16 - April 9, 1995 (no cat.).

Provenance 1992: Hamilton College (Fred L. Emerson Gallery), by gift of Elihu Root.

Published References Katherine D. Alcauskas, INNOVATIVE APPROACHES, HONORED TRADITIONS: THE RUTH AND ELMER WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART AT FIVE YEARS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION (Clinton, NY: Wellin Museum of Art, 2017), p. 144;

A CENTURY OF CURIOSITIES, THE STORY OF THE HAMILTON COLLEGE COLLECTION (exh. cat., Clinton, NY, Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, September 29-December 30, 2005, Unnumbered cat.)