Etaples Fisher Folk

Henry Ossawa Tanner studied at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins. From 1888 to 1891 he lived in Atlanta, where he ran a photography studio and taught drawing at Clark College. Continuing his studies in Paris, it was as an expatriate that he became the first African American artist to win an international reputation. In" Etaples Fisher Folk", Tanner’s use of chiaroscuro (dark-light contrast) suggests the influence of seventeenth-century Dutch painters, particularly Rembrandt, and sets a solemn, religious tone for this scene of two peasants preparing a meal. Using an unusual technique, Tanner combined tempera and oils and applied them in heavy layers.