MS01.01.03.B02.F10.038

Bannister was not very far removed in time from the days and chains of slavery when he proved to be one of the most important genre artists living in America. I have cited in his role in the founding of the Providence Art Club which was an unprecedented act for a man of color in America art circles at that time. His painting sold for handsome sums, some bringing as much as $1,500, and enviable amount for an artist's work who had not joined the parade of Americs who had studied abroad. His choice of subject matter was shaped by a conscientious approach to the use of a heavy impasto in the technic employed which almost always allows the viewer to identify his work even when there is no signature. In an article written in 1901 at the death of the artists, J.K. Otto spoke of the influence that the French painters in the Barbizon tradition exerted over those American artist who had studied abroad. Here, and sincere admiration by Bannister for those artists who brought back to America the Barbizon mood in painting. He has also been linked with those young painters who fell under the influence of William Morris Hunt during the 1860's.

Daniel Robbins described Bannister as an artist who exhibited a less sophisticated than personal approach to painting. He goes on to explain: "He represents the level of Providence painting at the moment when the community determined actively to engage itself in the promotion of art; and, as an American Negro, he represents one of the earliest artists to achieve recognition in a field where none had practiced before."

Otto, J.K., The Barbizon School in Providence, 1828-1901, Exhibition Sponsored by the Onley Street Baptist Church, August 1-5, 1965, p.3.

Birmingham, Peter, American Art in the Barbizon Mood, Smithsonian Institution, 1975, p. 126.

Robbins, Daniel, Edward Mitchell Bannister, 1828-1901 Providence Artist, Rhode Island School of Design for the Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., March 23, April 3, 1966.