Henry Ossawa Tanner · 1893
The Banjo Lesson
Posters from $15.00 CAD · Canvas from $39.00 CAD
Ships to the US & Canada
Tanner's most celebrated painting — an elderly Black man teaching his small grandson to play the banjo by a warm fire. The first major American painting to treat a Black domestic scene with full dignity. Hampton University Museum.
Up to 10 × 14 in · portrait
Size
Larger sizes are unavailable for this painting because the source scan's resolution wouldn't print at gallery quality.
Format & finish
Archival cotton canvas stretched over a wooden frame. Ready to hang as-is. No external frame.
Scale next to a 5'10" person
+ tax at checkout
Materials & quality
›Canvas & inks
Giclée-printed on archival cotton canvas with fade-resistant pigment inks, hand-stretched over wooden bars. Gallery-wrapped — ready to hang with no extra frame needed.
›Floater frame
Hand-finished solid wood floater frame in five finishes. The canvas sits inside with a clean shadow gap — the way galleries hang contemporary canvas.
›Posters
Premium archival paper — 200 gsm soft matte or 230 gsm vibrant glossy. Ships flat or rolled, ready for your own frame.
›Faithful to the source
Printed from the highest-resolution museum and archive scans available. Each painting's maximum size is capped at what its source scan can support at gallery quality.
The story of The Banjo Lesson
The Banjo Lesson is an 1893 oil painting by African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner. It depicts two African-Americans in a humble domestic setting: an old black man is teaching a young boy – possibly his grandson – to play the banjo.
Adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
All Henry Ossawa Tanner prints →Biography adapted from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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