February 16 • 3:00 – 3:30 p.m. on WAAM • Ann Arbor
Join Ed as he traverses the centuries to spotlight the work of Joshua Johnson (1763-1824), Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), Horace Pippin (1888-1946), and Helen La France (1919-present). Johnson, considered America’s first acclaimed African American artist, leads the way with his boldly schematic portraits of Federal period Marylanders. Next, Henry O. Tanner imbues his landscapes and genre scenes with luscious skies and tranquil waters enhanced by his European sojourns. Horace Pippin looks inward, his quiet interior scenes offering a record of self-sufficiency and dignity. And living legend, Kentucky-born Helen La France, paints the daily lives of people going to church, walking to a funeral, or attending a nighttime revival, all amid the undulating hills of Graves County.