Henry Ossawa Tanner

Kate's Log - StarDate - 12 February 2012

While driving on Fairmount Avenue last week,  I saw some banners hanging from the telephone poles.  They were for an exhibit at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on Henry Ossawa Tanner.  To be honest, I had never heard of this gentleman so, of course, I needed to Google him when I got home. 

Eakins Oval

Henry Ossawa Tanner was born on June 21, 1859 in Pittsburgh, PA and in 1864 his father moved the family to Philadelphia, PA. At the age of 13, while walking through Fairmount Park, Henry encountered an artist at work.  At that point, he decided that is what he also wanted to do with his life.  Throughout his teenage years, he painted and sketched and visited galleries in Philadelphia as much as possible.  Tanner was the first African American artist to gain international acclaim. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts so it only seems fitting that the museum would be exhibiting his works during Black History Month.  Henry was a student of Thomas Eakins.  Aside....Eakins Oval in Philadelphia is named after Eakins.  The picture above might seem familiar to some you.  If you recall the scene in Rocky when he looks down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the Art Museum steps, Eakins Oval is right in front of him...end of Aside.  Tanner was one of Eakins favorite students.  Years later, Eakins painted a portrait of Tanner one of only a selected few of his former students who had this honor. 

The Banjo Player

Though a very talented artist, mostly known for his biblical work, the late 19th century was still a time of great racism in the US and Tanner was not exempt from it.  For that reason he left the country with plans to go to  Rome.  But before going to Rome, he stopped for visits in London and Paris.  When he arrived in Paris, he fell in love with "The City of Lights" and since he felt that he would be able to thrive more artistically there, he made Paris his home. He never made it to Rome..at least not then.  He would come back state side occasionally but for the most part, France was his home.  He died in Paris in May 1937.

This biography only briefly touches Tanner's life and accomplishments.  For more information on this wonderful artist and to see some of his works, please visit:

• www.biography.com/people/henry-ossawa-tanner-9501966
• http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/First_Lady/html/hot-bio.html
• www.canvasreplicas.com/Tanner.htm
• www.pafa.org/Museum/Exhibitions/Currently-On-View/Henry-Ossawa-Tanner-Modern-Spirit/Henry-Ossawa-Tanner-Modern-Spirit/1147/

More adventures to follow....thanks for reading.

Orange Crackers and Black and White Milkshakes...A Throwback Memory

Kate's Log - StarDate - 3 February 2012

Recently, I made a purchase of Lance Toast Chee peanut butter crackers.  You know the ones, orange crackers with peanut butter.  Though lately, it's hard to find the peanut butter.  Eating these crackers takes me back to my childhood and the 1960's.

I grew up in Fairmount in Philadelphia or as it is known to many today, the Art Museum area (say this with your best Thurston Howell III voice). But to us old-timers, it was and always will be Fairmount.  Back in the day, the neighborhood was mostly blue collar and middle class and filled with kids.  In the summer, we would play outside the house all day and never wanted to "come in" for anything.  But at the end of the day, we would need to return home, take a bath and settle in to watch TV.  There were only three channels back then and we had a black and white TV..imagine that.

Every once in a while, my sister and I (and brother when he got older) would get a special treat..a black and white milkshake and orange peanut butter crackers from Maxine's.  Maxine's was a corner store in Fairmount; some of us remember corner stores.  We had a lot of them in the neighborhood back in the 1960's but not so much now.  Maxine made the best milkshakes in the world or at least the best shakes in our little world.  And she always loaded up her ice cream cones with tons of ice and push it down into the cone.  Not like Steven's who would give one little 3/4 of a scoop and not even push it down into the cone...the nerve.  But I digress. When we were all spic and span and shiny clean, "Mom" would walk over to Maxine's and get us our "special treat".  I remember we couldn't wait for her to get back.  We would run to the kitchen and get out our glasses.  Mom would pour half of the shake into each glass and one of us could not have a millimeter more than the other or WW III would break out.  And we would each get three crackers.  We would retire back to the living room, sit on the floor (with Dad snoring on the sofa) and watch our favorite shows...The Monkees, Gilligan's Island, Batman (pow, bang)  and so many others.


To us, there was nothing in the world like those black and white milkshakes and orange peanut butter crackers.  I very rarely have a milkshake now days but, when I am enjoying those crackers, if I close my eyes, I can still see my sister and I sitting on the floor, in our bathrobes, dipping our crackers into the shake and dreaming of marrying Davy Jones or Mickey Dolenz....those were really the days.

We weren't monetarily rich but we were rich in so many other ways. And that is why simple things like a milkshake and crackers were so special to us. I was and am very blessed and I would not trade my simple, innocent childhood for all the milkshakes in the world.

More stories and adventures to follow.

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