The Banjo Lesson

Realism Abroad

Henry Ossawa Tanner

The Banjo Lesson

1893

Oil on canvas, 124.5 × 90.2 cm. Hampton University Museum, Hampton, Virginia

An older man helps a boy hold a banjo, cool light from one side and warm firelight from the other.

  • It was admitted to the Paris Salon of 1894.
  • The same year Robert C. Ogden, chair of Hampton's board, bought it and gave it to Hampton.
  • In the same 2009 University of Pennsylvania lecture, Tanner was introduced as Eakins's "great student."
  • An intimate lesson between generations, observed closely, offered a respectful picture of Black life.

Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

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