Eastman Johnson (July 29, 1824 - April 5, 1906) was an American painter. Events 1014 - Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat Year 1824 ( MDCCCXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 456 - St Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Best known for his genre paintings, paintings of scenes from everyday life, and his portraits both of everyday people, he also painted portraits of prominent Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Abraham Lincoln (February 12 1809 &ndash April 15 1865 the sixteenth President of the United States, successfully led his country through its greatest internal Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4 1804 – May 19 1864 was an American novelist and Short story writer Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25 1803 &ndash April 27 1882 was an American essayist philosopher poet and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27 1807 &ndash March 24 1882 was an American educator and Poet whose works include " Paul Revere's Ride " His later works often show the influence of the 17th century Dutch masters whom he studied while living in The Hague, and he was even known as The American Rembrandt in his day. [1]
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Biographic information
Johnson was born in Lovell, Maine, the eighth and last child of Philip Carrigan Johnson and Mary Kimball Chandler (born in New Hampshire, 18th October 1796, married 1818). Lovell is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 974 at the 2000 census His eldest brother Commodore Philip Carrigan Johnson Jr.
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(father of Vice Admiral Alfred Wilkinson Johnson) was followed by his beloved sisters Harriet, Judith, Mary, Sarah, Nell and his brother Reuben. Vice Admiral Alfred Wilkinson Johnson was born in Philadelphia on November 18 1876 son of Rear Admiral Philip Carrigan Johnson and nephew of American painter Eastman Johnson Eastman grew up in Fryeburg and Augusta, where the family lived at Pleasant Street and later at 61 Winthrop Street. Fryeburg is a town in Oxford County, Maine, USA. The population was 3083 at the 2000 census Augusta is the Capital of the US state of Maine, County seat of Kennebec County, and Center of population [2]
His career as an artist began when his father, the owner of several businesses, Secretary of State for Maine (1840) and then in government in Washington DC, [3] apprenticed him in 1840 to a Boston lithographer. In 1849 he moved to Düsseldorf, Germany where many artists, including many Americans, studied Art,[4] [5] and there was accepted into the studio Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze,[6] a German who had lived in the United States for a while before returning to Germany. Düsseldorf (ˈdʏsəldɔɐf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze ( May 24, 1816 &ndash July 18, 1868) was a German American history painter best-known for [4] Johnson then moved to The Hague and studied 17th century Dutch and Flemish masters. He ended his European travels in Paris, studying with the academic painter Thomas Couture in 1855. After returning to America in 1855 due to the death of his mother. In 1857 he lived and painted among the native Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) near Superior, Wisconsin. Anishinaabe or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek (which is the plural form of the word is a self-description often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe The Ojibwa or Chippewa (also Ojibwe, Ojibway, Chippeway) is the largest group of Native Americans - First Nations The city of Superior sits at the junction of US Highway 2 and U [6] In 1859, he established a studio in New York city and secured his reputation as an American artist with an exhibition featuring his painting Negro Life at the South or as it is more popularly known Old Kentucky Home. [7]
He was also a member of the Union League Club of New York, which holds many of his paintings. The Union League Club of New York is a prominent social club in New York
Style
Johnson's style is largely realistic in both subject matter and in execution. His original photorealistic charcoal sketches were not strongly influenced by period artists, but are informed more by his lithography training. Later works show influence by the 17th century Dutch and Flemish masters, and also by Jean François Millet. Jean-François Millet ( October 4, 1814 &ndash January 20, 1875) was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon Echoes of Millet's The Gleaners can be seen in Johnson's The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket although the emotional tone of the work is far different.
His careful portrayal of individuals rather than stereotypes enhances the realism of his paintings. Ojibwe artist Carl Gawboy notes that the faces in the 1857 portraits of Ojibwe people by Johnson are recognizable in people in the Ojibwe community today. Click here for Indian Rebellion of 1857 Year 1857 ( MDCCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the [8] [9] Some of his paintings such as Ojibwe Wigwam at Grand Portage display near photorealism long before the photorealism movement but in keeping with the American tradition of realism that can be seen in the works of Charles Willson Peale whose painting The Stairway Group is said to have fooled George Washington. Photorealism is the genre of painting based on making a painting of a Photograph. Charles Willson Peale ( April 15, 1741 – February 22, 1827) was an American painter, soldier and naturalist
His careful attention to light sources contributes to the realism. Portraits Girl and Pets and The Boy Lincoln make use of single light sources in a manner that echoes the 17th Century Dutch Masters.
Subject matter
Jonhson's subject matter included portraits of the wealthy and influential from the President of the United States, to literary figures to portraits of unnamed individuals, but he is best know for his genre work, his paintings of everyday people in everyday scenes. Johnson often repainted the same subject changing style or details.
New England
His depictions of New England life, such as ''The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket, The Old Stagecoach, Husking Bee, Island of Nantucket, The Sap Gatherers, and Sugaring Off at the Camp, Fryeburg, Maine established him solidly as a genre painter. Over the course of five years, he made many sketches and smaller paintings depicting the process of turning maple sap into maple sugar, but never completed the larger work he had started. [10]
In contrast, the much celebrated Old Stagecoach was mostly staged in his studio and its composition carefully planned. The stage coach itself originated as an abandoned coach that he encountered and sketched while hiking in the Catskils. The children were painted from local children recruited from near his Nantucket Studio. Despite this artifice, the painting was celebrated as wholesome, natural and bucolic. [11]
Ojibwe
After his return from Europe, Johnson went to visit his sister in what was then the western frontier of Wisconsin. Wisconsin ( or wɪˈskɑnsɨn (French Ouisconsin) is one of the fifty United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States Carl Gawboy, a modern day Ojibwe artist, has posited that Johnson's guide was likely George Bonga, a son of Pierre Bonga, a freed slave, who had married an Ojibwe woman. George Bonga ( August 20, 1802 - 1880 was the son of Pierre Bonga, an African-American fur trader who was one of the first black children Pierre Bonga was reportedly the son of Jean and Jeanne Bonga a freed slave couple who had belonged to the British officer commanding at Mackinac Island in the 1780s Gawboy speculates that Johnson's time with this mixed-race family changed his approach to painting. Certainly Johnson was successful in getting many Ojibwe to sit for him. His drawings and painting depict Ojibwe people in a much more intimate and relaxed manner than is usual for painting of that period. Also unusual was that he often included the subject's names in the title of the works. He did not focus solely on individual portraits, but also did paintings and sketches of scenes which including the Ojibwe dwellings, St. Louis bay, and other groupings of Ojibwe in everyday activities. The St Louis River is a river in the US State of Minnesota that flows into Lake Superior. [9][8]
Johnson left Wisconsin due to wide spread financial panic that rendered his real estate investments there worthless. He left there for Cincinnati, Ohio to make money via portrait commissions and did not return to the subject of the Ojibwe. [11] His paintings and sketches of the Ojibwe remained unsold during his lifetime and now are in the possession of the Tweed Museum of Art on the campus of University of Minnesota Duluth. The Tweed Museum of Art is a Museum located on the campus of the University of Minnesota Duluth, in Duluth Minnesota. The University of Minnesota Duluth ( UMD) is a regional branch of the University of Minnesota System located in Duluth Minnesota, USA. [12]
Slavery
Negro Life at the South is considered Johnson's masterpiece. Although this painting was popularly known as Old Kentucky Home nearly from the beginning, it depicts a scene from Washington, D.C. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D
The painting is a domestic scene behind a dilapidated house. On the right in the foreground is a couple courting, in the middle there is a banjo player playing while an adult woman dances with a child as others look on. One of the onlookers, far to the right is a young white woman in an elegant white dress. Above the scene, an adult woman looks out a window as she steadies a small child sitting on the partially collapsed roof. Skin tones vary in the scene from person to person. Aside from the white observer on the far right, the palest person in the scene is the young woman being courted. The darkest skin belongs to the woman dancing with the child in the middle foreground. Some have viewed this as simple realism, others see it as an invitation to the viewer to contemplate the mixed racial heritage of those portrayed. [13] Both proponents and detractors of slavery have seen this painting as defending their positions. [13]
Another painting of Johnson's is less open to interpretation. A Ride for Liberty — The Fugitive Slaves painted in 1862, depicts a slave family riding to freedom. This painting is based on Johnson's observations during the Civil War battle of Manassas. [7]
References
- ^ Sugaring Off: The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson.
- ^ University of Maine. Retrieved on 2007-07-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
- ^ Eastman Johnson. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b [http://www.andrews.edu/MDLG/german/german-american/notable/L/leutze_emanu/leutze-e.html Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze]. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ Edward Beyer. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b Eastman Johnson: Painting America. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b A Ride for Liberty — The Fugitive Slaves. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b Eastman Johnson's legacy in art (2006-07-04). Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 836 - Pactum Sicardi, peace between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b Civil Civil War Symbolism. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ Sugaring Off. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
- ^ a b Carbone, Teresa A. [1999]. Eastman Johnson: Painting America, Patricia Hills, first (in English), Italy: Brookly Museum of Art.
- ^ Exhibitions. Tweed Museum of Art.
- ^ a b John Davis (March 1998). Eastman Johnson's 'Negro Life at the South' and urban slavery in Washington, D.C. The Art Bulletin. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
External links
- Eastman Johnson at Find-A-Grave
- Eastman Johnson letters online at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
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