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Formal Analysis of an Art

Introduction

In this paper, we will be analyzing an artistic masterpiece names as “The Thankful Poor” by Henry Ossawa Tanner. The analysis of the art is done on multiple variables that are discussed below (Pinder: pp. 223-233):

Figure 1: The Thankful Poor by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner (June 21 1859 - 25 May 1937) was an African-American artist who went in pursuit of his arts to Philadelphia where he opened his own drawing studio and taught drawing at the Clark University. Tanner was born in Pittsburgh to Benjamin Tucker and Sara Tanner. His father was a pastor at the African Methodist Episcopal Church; whereas his mother was a teacher. He was the eldest of nine siblings and in 1864; he went to Philadelphia with his family, where he began a passion of the arts. In 1879-1885, he entered the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and teachers were Thomas Eakins. After a stint in Atlanta, he taught drawing at the Clark University. He travelled to France in 1891 where he attended Jean-Paul Laurens at the Julian Academy and joined the American Art Students Club of Paris. Although he is not well known to the public, but his work is very influential (Boime 1993: pp. 415-42).

Form or Genre of Art

The form of the art is a painting.

Media & Techniques

The media has been used in the painting is paint and the technique employed is an oil-on-canvas portrait of an elderly black man sitting down to supper with a teenage boy.

Size and Scale of the Artwork

The special feature of "Inspire Art" is the variety of interesting, aesthetic, abstract art in almost all colour variations, whether one piece, diptych, triptych or tetralogy (miniseries). It is safe for everyone who is interested in distinctive and modern art abstract painting (Falk 1999).

Shapes

In any piece of work, there are either a positive or a negative shape that defines a three-dimensional space. The positive space of the painting illustrates the objects in the painting that include the two poverty-stricken persons along with the table on which supper served.

Persons

The artist is addressing to the poor people of Rome in this painting, sharing their grief and appreciating that they are still thankful for what they have got in their lives. In 1894, Tanner painted the beautiful work by name "The Thankful Poor”, which is an oil-on-canvas portrait of an elderly black man sitting down to supper with a teenage boy. Their heads are bowed in prayer. The man's coarse hands and the boy's scruffy clothes suggest that they are no strangers to adversity and labour (Patton: pp. 15).

Objects

The setting shows a table and sparse, but he has captured the holy pair with a feel of hard-earned distinction, even a savage beauty.

Texture

The objectivity of representational arts in the painting is well-developed. Colours of different objects show that the paining speaks of the misery of the poor people who lived across Rome. The symbolic use of colour in paintings represents different cultural meanings. In each ...