Henry Ossawa Tanner Auction Prices and Value Guide

Henry Ossawa Tanner auction prices are tracked in Appraisily's artist market index, with source-directory coverage of 179 records. Use this page to review sold-lot activity, market context, and valuation factors before requesting a formal appraisal.

Henry Ossawa Tanner auction prices: quick answer

Henry Ossawa Tanner auction prices depend on medium, size, date, condition, provenance, edition details, attribution confidence, and recent comparable auction sales.

Artist
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Source records
179
Market update
2026-02-16

Henry Ossawa Tanner market snapshot

Henry Ossawa Tanner shows solid auction liquidity with 121 tracked lots. Median realized sale is around $4,500. Category concentration is still broad or sparse. Last 12 months recorded 10 sales. Latest recorded sale: 2026-02-05.

Realized price distribution

  • Under $1,000 (8.1% · 7 sales)
  • $1,000 to $10,000 (52.3% · 45 sales)
  • $10,000+ (39.5% · 34 sales)
Median sale (last 12 months)
$700
Sales recorded (last 12 months)
10
Median shift vs prior year
0.0%
Latest recorded sale
2026-02-05

Artist context

About Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner portrait
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain · Source

Born

1859

Died

1937

Nationality

American

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859–1937) was an American, African-American painter who built much of his career in France. In 1891 he moved to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and later gained recognition within French artistic circles. His career became a landmark in American art history: he is widely described as the first African-American painter to achieve international acclaim. In 1923 the French government named him a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Tanner's established identity spans American and European authority files and museum profiles, helping researchers distinguish him in collection and auction records. Collectors most often encounter his name in connection with paintings and public auction listings. The available evidence establishes his identity and broad career context more securely than it documents particular subjects, techniques, or series, so individual works should be assessed from their own cataloguing, images, inscriptions, provenance, and supporting documentation.

Painting

Common works and media

The collected sources identify Tanner as a painter, making paintings the only well-supported common work type in this profile. They do not establish a reliable list of recurring subjects, supports, techniques, drawings, prints, sculptures, editions, or named series. Auction and appraisal research should therefore use the medium and object description documented for each individual work rather than infer a category from the artist's name alone.

Market and appraisal context

The collected sources establish Tanner as a painter, and Appraisily maintains a public auction-record page for him, but this source pack provides no detailed lot-level evidence for particular media, subjects, dimensions, condition, provenance, or price patterns. An appraisal should therefore begin with secure artist identification and the exact catalogued description of the object. When public records are available, useful comparisons include closely matched catalogued works considered alongside their sale dates and realized prices. Medium, support, size, subject, date, condition, provenance, and attribution may matter in art markets, but this research does not establish how strongly any one variable affects Tanner's market. No price forecast or trend claim is warranted from this source set alone.

Auction categories and appraisal factors

Common auction categories

  • Paintings

Value drivers

  1. Comparable public auction records, including sale dates and realized prices when available
  2. Correct resolution of the artist's identity against established authority records

Appraisal caveats

  • The collected pack contains no detailed lot-level extracts from a major auction house, so it does not support price-trend, scarcity, or record-price claims.
  • Specific effects associated with medium, support, dimensions, subject, date, condition, provenance, or attribution cannot be quantified from this source pack.
  • An auction listing or attribution should not be treated as authentication without work-specific evidence and appropriate expert review.

Evidence

Sources for artist context

This source-grounded artist context is based on collected public records: medium confidence, adequate source quality.

Source-grounded artist Markdown

Data basis

This page is built from Appraisily's public auction market index. Private transactions, incomplete sale feeds, and attribution changes may not be fully represented.

LLM-readable Markdown summary for Henry Ossawa Tanner

LLM summary index · LLM full index

Artist value FAQ

How much is Henry Ossawa Tanner worth?

Comparable public auction sales are the best starting point, but final value depends on the specific artwork, condition, size, medium, provenance, and attribution confidence.

Can Appraisily value my Henry Ossawa Tanner artwork?

Yes. Appraisily can review photos, dimensions, signatures, condition, provenance, and comparable market data to prepare a current valuation.