Describe and analyze the style and iconography of Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Banjo Lesson. How does it correspond to the stylistic qualities and social concerns of Realism?

What will be an ideal response?

The ideal Answer should include:
1. Tanner absorbed Eakins's lessons of truthful representation and his focus on real-life subjects.
2. Tanner's painting combines Eakins's Realism with the delicate brushwork he learned in France.
3. He sought to counter the typical caricatures of African Americans by other artists by creating humanizing and emotional scenes like The Banjo Lesson.
4. The use of the banjo is especially significant since it had become identified with images of minstrels-just the sort of derogatory caricatures that Tanner sought to replace with his sympathetic genre scenes focused on the intimate interactions that brought dignity and pride to family life.