During the 1860s Johnson painted Black men, women, and children that bestow on them dignity, intelligence, and grace. Many in his family, including his sister Harriet May and her husband Reverend Joseph May were ardent abolitionists. To Johnson, Blacks were not subjects to be ridiculed or satirized.
Note that paintings of Black women and their babies have been placed within the Mother and Child theme. Negro Life at the South and its variations have been placed in a separate category because of its historic significance as Johnson’s chef-d’oeuvre. —PH
Hills opinion letter, June 5, 2000: "There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson means to depict two fair-skinned African Americans in both Mating and Rustic Courtship. If there is a bit of ambiguity, I think that it was purposeful on Johnson's part. The two figures in Rustic Courtship (and also in Mating) recall the courting couple in Negro Life at the South. The woman has the same, distinctly wavy, pulled-back hair and she wears the same clothes as the woman in Negro Life. The slim youth has his face averted, as in Negro Life. Both are placed against a setting of a dovecote. It seems that doves were generally cared for by the black slaves. One would compare this to Winslow Homer's Uncle Ned at Home, 1875, in which the background is also a dovecote (see the May 24, 2000, Sotheby's sale.)"
Adelson Galleries archives: "Rustic Courtship (our picture) is clearly related to the unlocated work Mating…Although a smaller version of Mating, Rustic Courtship is more detailed in composition. The female figures differ in their hairstyles, and the one in Mating wears a necklace. In Rustic Courtship some branches with leaves are pictured to the left of the woman and in Mating the foliage is on the right of the composition. The figures are in the same pose, but is [sic] a more intimate version of Mating. Given the popularity of Mating, Johnson was inclined to reiterate the subject as can be seen in Rustic Courtship."
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