Study for the Bagpipe Lesson

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Study for the Bagpipe Lesson, 1892, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.42
Henry Ossawa Tanner, Study for the Bagpipe Lesson, 1892, oil on paperboard, sheet: 5 x 5 1516 in. (12.715.1 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins, 1983.95.42
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Study for the Bagpipe Lesson
Date
1892
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 5 x 5 1516 in. (12.715.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Robbins
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on paperboard
Classifications
Subjects
  • Study
  • Landscape — forest
  • Figure — child — waist length
Object Number
1983.95.42

Artwork Description

This study shows a boy practicing the bagpipe, but for the final version, Henry Ossawa Tanner added a teacher and two more figures. Bagpipe players were common in the French region of Pont-Aven and Concarneau, where Tanner spent his summers in the 1890s. Here, he used bold colors and loose brushwork to capture the scene. Tanner entered a finished version in the annual Paris exhibition, but it was rejected; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, however, accepted it for their yearly show.

Works by this artist (65 items)

William Henry Holmes, Munich Model, 1880, watercolor, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of American History, Division of Graphic Arts, Smithsonian Institution, 1954.12.1
Munich Model
Date1880
watercolor
Not on view
William Henry Holmes, On the Sunset Hill, 1926, 1926, watercolor, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Anna Bartsch Dunne, 1962.4.19
On the Sunset Hill, 1926
Date1926
watercolor
Not on view
William Henry Holmes, On the California Coast, n.d., watercolor, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1968.20.1
On the California Coast
Daten.d.
watercolor
Not on view