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Henry Ossawa Tanner
American, 1859-1937

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 1929-30
Tempera and varnish on cardboard

J. J. Haverty Collection, 49.32

The African American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner was
well known as a painter of biblical subjects. In this version
of the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Tanner
used layers of varnish and greenish blue tempera, the color
he considered the most pure and spiritual.