In 1880 he moved to Atlanta where he established a photographic studio and taught painting at Clark College. Patrons impressed by his talent arranged to send him abroad for further study, and as with many other young Americans he gravitated to the flexible regimen of the Académie Julian in Paris. This experience proved revelatory for him and prompted an expansion of his subject matter from landscape and genre to religious studies, one of which was purchased by the French government. In 1897 the Philadelphia merchant Rodman Wanamaker sent Tanner to the Holy Land to further his career as a painter of religious subjects.

At the turn of the century Tanner's increased exposure to the work of the impressionists brought about a change in his treatment of color, light, and form and led to more radical statements such as the painting in this show, Haystacks (about 1930). Enjoying his freedom from American racism, Tanner, like the great jazzman Sidney Bechet and many other black artists, spent the rest of his life in Paris, where he continued to turn out large-scale religious paintings until his death in 1937.