Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Harry W. Tanner fonds
General material designation
- Textual record
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Fonds
Repository
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
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Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
0.80 m of textual records and ca. 600 photographs (slides, negatives and prints)
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Harry W. Tanner was born in 1934 in Cuba. His father was a Canadian banker posted on the island; his mother was from West Lafayette, Indiana. He completed his early education in different bilingual schools in Cuba, graduating from high school in Havana. His interest in painting began when he was fifteen years old, taking watercolour courses from a local artist.
Harry attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where he studied geology for two years before returning to Havana. It was during this time that his interest in painting returned and he joined an art class given by Palko Lukacs, a Hungarian painter who had studied under Oskar Kokoschka. Tanner’s parents supported his artistic pursuits and sponsored an indefinite stay in Paris to study art. He spent over a year learning cubism at the atelier of André Lhote in Montparnasse, visiting museums and getting to know the masterpieces in the Louvre.
Tanner made the decision to return to post revolution Havana in 1959 and participate in Cuban cultural life after most foreigners had left. he participated in the creation of the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Art and Industry (ICAIC). He worked at ICAIC for the next eleven years. He had become interested in cinematography while in Paris and worked as a cameraman, cinematographer, and director of documentaries. He also worked as an assistant to Mikhail Kalatozov, the director of the Cuban/Russian film Soy Cuba. Tanner decided to leave the film institute in 1970 to become an independent painter. Harry joined the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and was an active promoter of the art of painting.
In 1984, Harry left Cuba for Toronto, Canada, to assist his mother who was living there alone and settled in Toronto. Harry continued painting and gave classes in technique at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Tanner produced over 200 paintings and exhibited several times in different venues.
Harry Tanner died November 7th, 2019 at the age of 85.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of material created and kept by Harry Tanner. Much of the material that still exists was originally that of Dorothy Todd Tanner, that remained in Harry's possession when she passed away. The fonds has been divided into two series, material seemingly created and or accumulated by Harry Tanner about his life and work, and a second series of material that was maintained by Dorothy Tanner from, or about, Harry that then came to be in Harry's possession after her death.