A biography of Henry Ossawa Tanner, an African American painter who was schooled in Philadelphia in one of the few secondary schools for Blacks. He then studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Tanner later moved to France as he had heard that Black artists were accepted there with less prejudice. His paintings were annually shown in the Paris Salon and in 1923 he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor, France's highest award for an artist.

"This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Henry Ossawa Tanner : Modern Spirit, organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and presented January 27-April 15, 2012. The exhibition is also appearing at the Cincinnati Art Museum (May 26-September 9, 2012), and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (October 2012-January 6, 2013)"--P. [32].