Day 5 / The Annunciation
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation, 1898. Philadelphia Museum of Art
Light was Tanner’s expression of God that radiated in his paintings to provide guidance and safety for humanity and offered comfort in the face of struggle and oppression. . . . When art became a ‘drudge,’ Tanner saw light that reinvigorated the process that he loved.
—Kelly Jeannette Baker
In this late nineteenth-century depiction of the Annunciation, Philadelphia painter Henry Ossawa Tanner gives a familiar biblical narrative an unconventional treatment. Mary, portrayed here as a young Jewish girl in Palestine, appears plain and unassuming—she wears peasant’s clothing and is without halo or other holy attributes. The archangel Gabriel appears before her as a luminous shaft of light to announce that she will bear the Son of God. Mary looks on with reverential contemplation as the celestial beam illuminates her simple home with a sacred presence. In this extraordinary yet intimate meeting of the secular and the divine, Gabriel’s presence evokes a powerful otherworldliness, while Mary conveys an informality often missing in other artistic depictions of this moment.
In 1879, Tanner enrolled as the only Black student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) in Center City Philadelphia. Of his time at PAFA, he wrote, “I was extremely timid and to be made to feel that I was not wanted, although in a place where I had every right to be, even months afterwards caused me sometimes weeks of pain. Every time any one of these disagreeable incidents came into my mind, my heart sank, and I was anew tortured by the thought of what I had endured, almost as much as the incident itself.” Like many Black American artists and writers at the turn of the century, Tanner eventually moved to Paris in 1891, maintaining that he could “not fight prejudice and paint at the same time.” Given his suffering in conflicts with a secular world “disjointed” by racial injustice and inequality, light emerges as a central theme in many of Tanner’s religious works. Scholars speculate that he may have found strength and solace in visual mysticism and the comforting warmth of light—an analogy for God.
reflections
Where is the “light” in your life?
What people, places, or ideas inspire or revitalize your life and daily practice?
How can these sources of light and warmth illuminate everyday moments of connection?
Sources
Baker, Kelly Jeannette. “Henry Ossawa Tanner: Race, Religion, and Visual Mysticism.” Master’s thesis, Florida State University, 2003.
Brenson, Michael. “For Tanner, Light was Love.” The New York Times, February 17, 1991.
Hage, Emily. “Making the Modern Divine: The images of Henry Ossawa Tanner.” America: The Jesuit Review, March 19, 2021.
