The Disciples on the Sea

Artist Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859-1937)

Place of OriginUnited States

Dateabout 1910

DimensionsPainting: 21 1/2 × 26 1/2 in. (54.6 × 67.3 cm)
Frame: 27 7/8 × 33 7/8 × 3 1/2 in. (70.8 × 86 × 8.9 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Frank W. Gunsaulus

Object number

1913.127

Not on View

Label Text“[M]y effort has been not only to put the Biblical incident in the original setting...but at the same time give the human touch...to convey to my public the reverence and elevation these subjects impart to me…” —Henry Ossawa Tanner The thickness of the paint cleverly imitates the swelling of the waves in this almost abstract representation of the story of Jesus calming the fears of his disciples on a stormy sea. Deeply devout, Henry Ossawa Tanner turned from Impressionist-influenced scenes of everyday life to exclusively Biblical subjects by the mid-1890s. Tanner, whose mother escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad as a child and whose father was a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, pursued a career in art despite the initial disapproval of his religious parents. He studied under influential realist painter Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before eventually moving to Paris in 1891, in part to escape racial discrimination. He became the first internationally renowned African American painter.Published ReferencesMcCready, Eric S., "Tanner and Gilliam: Two American Black Painters," Negro American Literature Forum, vol. 8, no. 4, Winter, 1974, p. 279, repr. fig. 1, p. 278.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, American Paintings, Toledo, 1979, pp. 106-107, pl. 143

Mosby, Dewey F., Henry Ossawa Tanner, Philadelphia, 1991, p. 198, fig. 73.

Bearden, Romare and Henry Henderson, A History of African American Artists, New York, 1993, p. 99, repr.

McMaster, Julie A., The Enduring Legacy: A Pictorial History of the Toledo Museum of Art, Superior Printing, Warren, OH, 2001, repr. (col.) p. 8.

Cothran, John C., A Search of African American Life, Achievement and Culture: First Search, Carrollton, TX, Stargate Publishing, 2006, fig. 58, p. 37.

Exhibition HistoryChicago, Thurber Art Galleries, Exhibition of Paintings by Henry O. Tanner, 1913, no. 3.

Chicago, South Side Community Art Center, 1943, no. 3, repr.

Findaly, Findlay College, 22 American Paintings Lent by the Toledo Museum, 1949.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings Acquired by the Toledo Museum 1901-1951, 1951.

Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1985-88.

Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum. 1985-88.

Bronx, Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1985-88

Charlotte, N.C., Mint Museum, 1985-88.

Hartfor, Conn., Wadsworth Atheneum, 1985-88.

San Antonio, TX, San Antonio Museum of Art, 1985-88.

Los Angeles, California, California Afro-American Museum, 1985-88.

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 1985-88.

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Pennsylvania. 1985-88.

Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts; St. Louis, Saint Louis Art Museum; Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; Kansas City, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art; Made in America: Ten Centuries of American Art, 1995-1996, p. 137, repr. (col.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Luminous Visions: Phillip K. Smith III and Light Across the Collection, October 17, 2020-April 4, 2021.