CLINTON: 1996-10-22 White House Acquires Henry Tanner Painting

[The White House]

Keywords: Culture, District-Of-Columbia, Mid-Atlantic-Region, Pennsylvania,
Document-Id: PDI://OMA.EOP.GOV.US/

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the First Lady

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 22, 1996

WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF HENRY OSSAWA TANNER
PAINTING FOR PERMANENT WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION

The White House announced today the acquisition of Sand Dunes at
Sunset, Atlantic City, a painting by the renowned African-American
artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. This is the first painting by an
African-American artist to be a part of the White House permanent
collection. The painting will be unveiled by the President and Mrs.
Clinton at a White House ceremony on October 29, 1996. Following the
unveiling, the painting will hang in the Green Room of the White House.

Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City (c.1885, oil on canvas 29-1/4 x
58-3/4 in.) is a landscape with a "view across the cool gray of a
shadowed beach to dunes made pink by the late afternoon sunlight. A low
haze over the water partially hides the sun." The painting is
considered one of Henry Tanner's largest, most artistically ambitious
and most beautiful pure landscapes.

Tanner (1859 - 1937), the son of an African Methodist Episcopal
minister and a mother who conducted private school in her home, was
born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied under Thomas Eakins at
the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was greatly influenced by
Thomas Hovenden and by Hovenden's genre paintings of the 1880's.
Although he spent over half of his life in France where he found an
expansive and more accepting environment, he always considered himself
an American. He made periodic visits to the United States and served
as a lieutenant with the American Red Cross during World War I.

In the Spring of 1994, Mrs. Clinton, Honorary Chair of the White House
Endowment Fund, and Endowment Fund trustees worked with the late Sylvia
Williams, former Director of the Museum of African Art at the
Smithsonian and David Driskell, a leading expert on African-American
art, to look for a work that would be compatible with the White House
collection and would complement one of the public rooms. "The works of
Henry Ossawa Tanner remind us that talent has the power to transcend
prejudice. It is a deep honor for the President and me to honor
Tanner's contributions to both African-American culture and the
cultural life of our Nation. We are so proud to add this painting to
the White House permanent collection." said Mrs. Clinton.

The painting was obtained from Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, grandniece of
the artist, by the White House Endowment Fund for $100,000. The White
House Endowment Fund is a non-profit charity and wholly-owned
subsidiary of the White House Historical Association. The purpose of
the Fund is to raise money to provide permanent support for the White
House collection of fine arts and furnishings and to preserve the
historic character of the public rooms of the White House.
###