Salome
Sobre el cuadro
Salomé is a painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, showing the princess Salome from the Bible, who danced before her stepfather Herod Antipas, and who demanded the head of John the Baptist as a reward for her performance. Tanner painted Salome as part of his Christian-themed paintings.
The painting was unusual for Tanner, a "marked departure for the usually reserved artist". Although he did draw nudes as part of his studies, few of his professional paintings feature nudity. This particular painting is even rarer for being perceived as erotic. In this work the eroticism is offset by the bloody head of John the Baptist. Further, Salome is herself decapitated in this painting by shadow.
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The work may have been influenced by the works of El Greco. Tanner and his wife Jessie spent several months in Granada in the beginning of 1903, where he had time to study El Greco's paintings. The result on some of his own paintings (including Salome) was his use of the "elongated figure style of El Greco".
The painting was admitted into the 1921 Paris Salon. The painting was also displayed in 1924, as part of a solo exhibition put on by Tanner at Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City.
The painting was dontated to the Smithsonian's Museum of African Art by Henry's son Jessy O. Tanner in 1975.
En palabras del museo
Salome stands out from Henry Ossawa Tanner's other religious images, which are more conservative than this provocative painting. Salome's demand for the head of John the Baptist is one of the most lurid stories in the Bible. She dances for her stepfather, who rewards her beauty by giving her the prophet’s head on a platter. Here, Tanner presented Salome in a revealing gown, emphasizing her sensuality. The yellow shape in the lower left of the image, marked with red paint, suggests the corpse of John the Baptist.
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