[3] The painting depicts an older man proudly watching a boy push with his weight against the crossbar handle of an auger to carve a sabot, or wooden shoe.

[4] He studied in Paris, enrolling at the Académie Julian, while enjoying a sense of belonging within the city's international and racially diverse community of artists.

[5] The figures in The Young Sabot Maker exist within a humble, timeless interior, seemingly apart from the modern world.

Within the composition, Tanner emphasized the inherent dignity and ennobling effect of work that was publicized by important African-American educator, Booker T. Washington.

He emphasized the importance of training in skilled manual labor, especially for African Americans, and built this into the curriculum he designed as the president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.