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Flight Into Egypt

1923
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 768
This evocative "Flight into Egypt" is a mature work by Tanner, the leading early 20th-century African American artist who studied in Paris and resided in France—largely due to the systemic racism he encountered in the United States. As he declared in 1891, the year of his departure for Europe: "I cannot fight prejudice and paint at the same time." Having begun his career painting moving images of African American life, by the mid-1890s he had shifted to more universal biblical themes familiar from his childhood; his father, Benjamin Tanner, was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. To represent these stories, the artist developed an increasingly painterly, highly personal style based on direct observation and imagination. The subject of this work, which he depicted frequently, represents the Holy Family's escape from King Herod's assassins (Matthew 2:12–14). In personal terms, it conveyed Tanner’s sensitivity to issues of personal freedom and mobility, perhaps including the Great Migration of African Americans from the South after World War I.

On the back of this canvas is a study for Tanner’s prizewinning "Christ at the Home of Lazarus", painted around 1912 and now known only from photographs

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Flight Into Egypt
  • Artist: Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1859–1937 Paris)
  • Date: 1923
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 29 x 26 in. (73.7 x 66 cm)
  • Credit Line: Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.402a
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

Audio

Cover Image for 4594. Flight Into Egypt

4594. Flight Into Egypt

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More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study for "Christ at the Home of Lazarus", Henry Ossawa Tanner American, Oil on canvas, American
Study for "Christ at the Home of Lazarus"
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Untitled (Flight into Egypt), Henry Ossawa Tanner American, Oil on paperboard, American
Untitled (Flight into Egypt)
Henry Ossawa Tanner
ca. 1923
Study for the Young Sabot Maker, Henry Ossawa Tanner American, Watercolor and gouache on white wove paper, American
Study for the Young Sabot Maker
Henry Ossawa Tanner
1893
Christ Walking on Water, Henry Ossawa Tanner American, Etching
Christ Walking on Water
Henry Ossawa Tanner
late 19th–mid 20th century
Interior of a Mosque, Cairo, Henry Ossawa Tanner American, Oil on canvas
Returned to lender
Interior of a Mosque, Cairo
Henry Ossawa Tanner
1897

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