The White House lacks 'black' works no longer

Talking It Over

An educator from New York visited Washington a few years ago and decided to go on a tour of the White House. He waited in line with thousands of others, eager for the opportunity to see America's most famous residence.

But as he walked through the public rooms and corridors, taking in all of the beautiful art on the walls, he was immediately struck that something was wrong. There were no depictions of black faces in any of the paintings, not even a portrait of the legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass. In fact, there wasn't a single work by an African-American artist -- not Edward Bannister, or Jacob Lawrence, or William Johnson, or any of the fine black painters our country has produced.

As an African-American man, Edward D. Bell was saddened to discover this historical omission. So he decided to do something about it. He wrote to the President to suggest a more representative White House collection that would offer a truer picture of American history -- one that would make all children who visit the White House feel a connection to our country's past.

The President read Bell's letter and directed White House Curator Rex Scouten to look for a work by a leading experts on African-American artist to hang in of the public rooms. Two leading experts on African-American art -- the late Sylvia Williams, former director of the Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution, and scholar David Driskell -- helped locate a magnificent landscape by one of our nation's finest painters, Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Titled Sand Dunes at Sunset, Atlantic City the painting was purchased by the White House Endowment Fund earlier this year from Tanner's grandniece, Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter. The painting, along with others by Tanner, had been kept over the years in her mother's house, where the shades were always drawn to preserve the canvasses.

This week at the White House, the President and I presented the painting at a special ceremony that included Dr. Rae Alexander-Minter, Tanner's grandson, Jacques and Edward Bell. It was a fitting tribute to Tanner and a homecoming of sorts for an artist whose work was far more appreciated overseas that here in the United States, largely because of racism during his time.

The artist was born in Pittsburgh in 1859, just before the Civil War. His father was a minister, and his mother, whose family had escaped slavery by riding to freedom on the Underground Railroad, was a teacher. Both parents instilled in him a belief in education, good citizenship and racial pride.

His life goals crystallized when he was 13 years old and saw an artist painting in a park. Mesmerized by the painter's work, he decided to pursue an artistic career for himself.

Not only did Tanner have to overcome racial prejudice among art teachers and art schools, he also had to endure skepticism from his peers, who doubted he could ever make a living as an artist.

But he persevered, even though his fragile health forced him to scale back his work. By the time he died in 1937, he had won modest acclaim in art circles in the United States, but he had achieved far greater celebrity in France, where he had lived for many years and was named an honorary chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest civilian title the country confers.

In a poignant expression of the difficulties he faced as an African-American painter, he once wrote from Paris about the prejudice that led him to live much of his life far from his native land: "True, this condition has driven me out of the country ... and while I cannot sing our National Hymn -- Sweet Land of Liberty -- deep down in my heart, I love it and am sad that I cannot live where my heart is."

Now, at long last, Henry Ossawa Tanner is taking his rightful place alongside Winslow Homer, James McNeil Whistler, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent and the other great American artists whose work graces the White House.

On view for thousands of visitors who tour the Green Room each day, Sand Dunes will stand as a shinning example of the great contributions that African-Americans have made to the cultural life of our nation. And it will offer a reminder to every child who visits the White House that talent always has the power to transcend prejudice.

-- Creators Syndicate, Inc.