Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné

Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, MA, Project Manager

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Abigael MacGibeny

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Photo: Patricia Hills

Verso inscription

Photo: Patricia Hills

[ 44.3 Euro Portrait Drawings, Women ]

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44.3 Euro Portrait Drawings, Women

Johnson continued drawing portraits in charcoal after he arrived in Europe. However, the currently located charcoal portrait drawings of American women friends were all executed in The Hague, and those portraits returned to the United States. Similar to the situation of the commissioned charcoal portraits of men, those works of European women remained in Europe. —PH

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Hills no. 44.3.8

Baur no. 314

Polly Garey

Princeton University Art Museum title: Portrait of Polly Gary

Alternate titles: Polly Carter; Polly Gary; Portrait of Polly Cater [sic]

c.1855

Locale: The Hague, the Netherlands

Charcoal with touches of white chalk on paper

18 3/4 x 13 15/16 in. (47.7 x 35.4 cm)

Inscribed verso, lower left in charcoal, likely in Johnson's hand: Polly Garey/The Hague

Princeton University Art Museum, Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection (x1946-273)

Description / Remarks

MacGibeny, 2022: Baur 1940 identified the subject of this drawing owned by the Princeton University Art Museum as Polly Gary. Subsequently, for reasons currently unknown, she was reidentified as Polly Carter in the catalogue of the Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection that donated the drawing. In the Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné she is identified as Polly Garey, based on the name inscribed on the verso in what appears to be Johnson's hand. See the linked image of the inscription.

Although they are presumed to depict the same sitter, the Polly Garey of this drawing owned by Princeton does not resemble the subject of the related drawing owned by the Deerfield Academy (which is inscribed "Polly Garry" in the same hand) as closely as one would expect between portraits of the same sitter by Johnson. The reasons for this are unclear and may be revealed by future research into the sitter and the circumstances of the portraits' making.

Provenance

Likely Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)

Albert Rosenthal, New Hope, Pennsylvania, by 1937 (likely by purchase from Mrs. Johnson in 1915)

Clifton R. Hall, until 1946

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey, 1946 (by bequest)

Exhibitions

1937 Associated American Artists

Associated American Artists, New York, March 23–April 6, 1937, no. 28, [not listed in catalogue], lent by Albert Rosenthal.

References

Baur 1940

Baur, John I. H. An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, 1940. Exhibition catalogue (1939 Brooklyn Museum), p. 74, no. 314, as Polly Gary.

DeWald and Norton 1947

DeWald, Ernest T., and Paul F. Norton. The Laura P. Hall Memorial Collection of Prints and Drawings: Bequest of Clifton R. Hall. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, Department of Art and Archaeology, 1947, n.p., no. 49, as Polly Carter.

Norton 1947

Norton, Paul F. The Laura P. Hall Collection of Prints and Drawings. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 1947, n.p., no. 48, as Portrait of Polly Cater [sic].

Ross 1976

Ross, Barbara T. American Drawings in the Art Museum, Princeton University: 130 Selected Examples. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976, no. 54, illus.

Carton 1978

Carton, Mary B. "American Portraiture, Catalogue C: 1820–1865." 1978. Typescript of senior thesis, pp. 104–106.

Hills Examination / Opinion

Examination date(s): May 29, 2019

Examination notes: Medium description seems accurate. Specks of white on iris and two on nose for highlights. Stump and scraping on neck scarf. Outline.

Sitter Biography

Sitter: Garey, Polly

Biography:

Polly Garey (life dates unknown). Also identified as Polly Gary and Polly Garry in the titles of portrait drawings by Johnson.

Related work

Garey, Polly

Keywords

Portrait pose:
- Half length »
- Portrait »
- Standing »
Subject matter:
- Lace »

Record last updated March 30, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.

Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Polly Garey, c.1855 (Hills no. 44.3.8)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?SystemID=939 (accessed on April 29, 2024).