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Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner, American-French painter and illustrator (died 1937)

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Born
June 21, 1859
Died
May 24, 1937
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1859

About Henry Ossawa Tanner

Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the Legion of Honor. His father Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835–1923) became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States. One of his sisters, Halle Tanner Dillon Johnson, was the first woman to be certified to practice medicine in Alabama.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Henry Ossawa Tanner timeline

  1. His father Benjamin Tucker Tanner (1835–1923) became a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the first independent black denomination in the United States.
  2. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles.
  3. In 1923, the French government elected Tanner chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

The world when Henry Ossawa Tanner was born

Henry Ossawa Tanner was born in 1859. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1859

  • Best-selling bookOn the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineJohn Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
  • Technology milestoneEdwin Drake drills first successful oil well (Pennsylvania)
  • World population~1.39B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderJames Buchanan
  • U.S. population29.2M

1859 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Henry Ossawa Tanner's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18592026
Population29.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.