BALTIMORE.- The Baltimore Museum of Art presents an exhibition on the work and influence of one of the most important African-American painters of the 20th century and the first to achieve international acclaim. Henry Ossawa Tanner and His Influence in America through November 26, 2006. One of the first African-American artists to achieve international acclaim, Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) welcomed the younger generation into his Parisian studio to give them advice and encourage their careers. This exhibition explores how Tanner's achievements inspired those artists who returned home to search for their own racial and artistic identities in 20th-century America. The exhibition presents six paintings by Tanner along with approximately 40 paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs by African-American artists from the BMA's collection, including William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, James Van Der Zee, and Hale Woodruff. This is the second in a series of exhibitions that highlight the art, life, and influences of Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Tanner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 21 1859. He was the son of Benjamin Tucker Tanner (b. 1835), who became bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1888, edited the Christian Recorder, the organ of his church, from 1867 to 1883, founded, and from 1884 to 1888 edited, the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, and published several pamphlets, poems and hymns, and an Apology for African Methodism (1867). The son was a pupil of Thomas Eakins, in Philadelphia, and of J. P. Laurens and Benjamin Constant in Paris. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1895. His "Daniel in the Lions' Den" received an honorable mention at the Salon of 1896. "The Raising of Lazarus," which received a third-class medal in 1897, was purchased by the French government for the permanent collection of the Luxembourg. Other pictures are, "The Annunciation" (Salon, 1898), "Nicodemus Coming to Christ " (1899), "The Jews' Wailing Place," and "Christ in the Temple."