CC0 · no rights reserved
Profile of a Woman's Head
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Henry Ossawa Tanner made many portraits while visiting the Holy Land to use as studies for his religious paintings. In the traditional dress of the Middle East, this woman resembles the images of Christ’s mother that Tanner created, such as Mary from about 1914. Tanner placed the woman against a dark background, a compositional trick that he learned from his teacher Thomas Eakins.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineProfile of a Woman's Head. n.d.. Henry Ossawa Tanner, born Pittsburgh, PA 1859-died Paris, France 1937. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins. CC0.
