Street in Tangier
Henry Ossawa Tanner
ca. 1910
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of James and Shirley Gordon
Accession Number
1983.95.209
Tags
archdoorTangierstreetFigure group
About this artwork
Henry Ossawa Tanner might have created this scene with a passage from the Gospel of Luke in mind. In the background, Mary and Joseph approach the inn at Bethlehem, represented by the shadowed entrance on the left (Mosby, Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1991). Tanner did not visit Tangier until 1912, which suggests that he probably painted this scene in his Paris studio from postcards or photographs of the Moroccan city.