The Young Sabot Maker

Tanner painted this scene of a young clog maker in 1893, the year before he left the United States for Paris. He was 34, living in Philadelphia, and he was the first African American painter to achieve national recognition. This is one of the last paintings he made in America. An old bearded man sits at a workbench in a rustic workshop, holding a wooden clog in his left hand and a chisel in his right. A young boy stands beside him, watching, his hands clasped behind his back. The workshop is dark, lit by a window at the left that throws a warm light across the workbench and the tools. Wooden shavings cover the floor. The figures are absorbed in the work, the old man focused on the clog, the boy focused on the old man. Tanner was born in Pittsburgh in 1859, the son of a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He was the only Black student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied under Thomas Eakins from 1880 to 1885. Eakins encouraged him to paint from direct observation, and this painting shows that training clearly: the workshop is real, the tools are real, the light comes from an actual window. Tanner left for Paris in 1894, partly to escape the racism that made it impossible for him to exhibit or teach in the United States. He spent the rest of his life in France, where he became known for religious paintings. Oil on canvas, 102 by 79 centimeters, roughly 40 by 31 inches. Tanner painted with a controlled surface, building the flesh tones and the wood grain in thin layers of warm color. The light from the window is the organizing element of the composition, falling on the workbench, the tools, and the two figures in a clear diagonal from left to right. The vertical format and warm palette make this print work well in a study, hallway, or living room with warm-toned walls. The craft subject suits a workshop, studio, or kitchen. A natural wood frame picks up the painting's warm browns. The 12x16 or 16x20 size gives the tools and the figures enough detail to appreciate up close. The painting is in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. This is a public domain artwork. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.