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The Good Shepherd (Atlas Mountains, Morocco)

Henry Ossawa Tanner

ca. 1930

The Good Shepherd (Atlas Mountains, Morocco) by Henry Ossawa Tanner

Medium

Painting

Classification

Painting

Department

Smithsonian Collection

Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Credit

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins

Accession Number

1983.95.198

Tags

sheepMoroccoAtlas MountainsshepherdGood Shepherd

About this artwork

In 1912, Henry Ossawa Tanner traveled to Morocco to see the Atlas Mountains. In this painting he downplayed the story in favor of the impressive landscape itself. Tanner’s son Jesse remembered that The Good Shepherd was his father’s favorite subject. The artist believed that “God needs us to help fight with him against evil and we need God to guide us” (Jesse Tanner in Mathews, Henry Ossawa Tanner, American Artist, 1969).

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