PAFA to hold fundraiser to help renovate the Philadelphia home of former student, Henry Ossawa Tanner (Inquirer, 5/23/23)

PAFA to hold fundraiser to help renovate the Philadelphia home of former student, Henry Ossawa Tanner

George Anthony Morton, the subject of the HBO documentary Master of Light, who said he modeled his painting career after Henry Ossawa Tanner’s, is expected to attend a fundraiser to preserve the Tanner House at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on Thursday.

“Tanner is my spiritual guide,” Morton said in a telephone interview. “He was always a huge part of my inspiration.”

Excerpts from Master of Light tell the story of how Morton grew up in poverty in Kansas City, Mo., was imprisoned on a drug charge for nine years, and learned to paint while incarcerated. It was in jail that he discovered Tanner’s work…