As such, we can begin the progression with Tanner’s Gate in Tangier (n.d.), where the gateway is the obvious focus given the amount of space it takes up and the lack of distracting details. The relatively square view of the gateway gives it a sense of openness and accessibility, which correlates with the impression of 
Tangier as a place that would be more accepting of Tanner’s ethnicity than Europe or America. The openness of the gate also represents how Tanner broadened his horizons as an artist, as he had never produced prints before he visited Tangier, making Gate in Tangier one of his first in this medium. This free exploration and expansion of his abilities during his time in Tangier was not a coincidence, as the stimulation of an exotic foreign setting and the freedom from the racial preoccupations that had beset him in Europe and America would have been conducive to artistic experimentation. During the beginning of his stay in Morocco, gates like these likely symbolized the freedoms that being in Tangier could provide Tanner, which seemed as open as the one in Gate to Tangier.
This encouraged him to get closer to the streets and the common people of Tangier, as he does in Street in Tangier (1912). By painting an intimate street setting with ordinary views of normal Moroccans, Tanner goes beyond peering into an open gate and actually makes steps toward the other side of it. Although his Street in Tangier does not portray an actual gateway, 
it creates the impression of one by placing us in an alley with supportive arches hanging overhead. We share this enclosed gate-like space with the commoners of Tangier, who appear to be seeking refuge from the midday sun. With paintings like Street in Tangier, Tanner successfully offers us authentic glimpses into the lives of the local people, prompting Marcus Bruce, a biographer of Tanner, to claim that he was an “astute ethnographer” with a “unique ability at conveying the character of a region or a people” (Bruce 139). Bruce implies that Tanner was adept at penetrating and understanding the distinctness of different cultures, and the plain intimacy of Tanner’s street scene provides support for his claim. Tanner’s apparent ability to effectively capture distinctive traits of a foreign city, however, does not mean that he felt entirely comfortable in the setting of Tangier. As far inside the gateway as Tanner has come, he has not completely passed far enough to sufficiently immerse himself in Tangier’s culture. In Street in Tangier, he is still very much standing in the gateway, or rather in a gate-like alley, restricting himself to a subdued location and not capturing any of the vitality that is sure to exist in the main streets in the middle of the city.
Images:
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Gate in Tangier, n.d. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Tanner, Henry Ossawa. Street in Tangier, 1912. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.