CC0 · no rights reserved
Study for the Young Sabot Maker
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
After Henry Ossawa Tanner moved to France in 1891, he spent a few summers in Pont-Aven and Concarneau, where wooden shoes called sabots were common. This study shows a young student learning the trade from his teacher, a frequent theme in Tanner’s early work. In the final painting the young sabot-maker is not French but African American, reflecting Tanner’s own racial heritage. The Young Sabot Maker was his second painting to be accepted by the annual Paris exhibition, a coveted sign of official recognition from the French art establishment.
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineStudy for the Young Sabot Maker. ca. 1895. 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.
