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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
Patricia Hills, PhD, Founder and Director | Abigael MacGibeny, Project Manager and Co-Author

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Unknown
[ 45.7 U.S. Later Portrait Drawings, Groups ]info
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45.7 U.S. Later Portrait Drawings, Groups

In 1857 Johnson drew the “Five Sisters”—women who were friends or relatives of each other. Beginning in the 1860s Johnson began to make “conversation groups” in oil, as had been the fashion in England in the 1700s. These scenes were of families relaxed in interiors and engaged in talking with each other, such as the Hatches, Browns, Blatchfords, and Burdens. In a few instances Johnson did charcoal drawings of the whole scene or individual members, but it is not clear if such drawings were done before or after their oil counterparts. —PH

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Hills no. 45.7.5
Group with Sarah Fairchild Dean
Alternate titles: possibly The Sisters; Five Sisters; Group with Mrs. Sarah Fairchild Conover
1857
Locale: Superior, Wisconsin
Pastel on canvas
25 1/2 x 30 3/4 in. (64.8 x 78.1 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E.J. 1857.
The John and Darlene McNabb Collection, Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Description/Remarks

MacGibeny, 2022: Although this group portrait previously was titled Five Sisters, the women are not all sisters. According to Scott Nielsen, a Johnson descendent by marriage, they are (left to right): Johnson's nieces Mary Elizabeth Newton and Martha Newton (holding newspaper), Sarah Fairchild Dean, Mary Elizabeth Brown Rice, and Johnson's sister Sarah Johnson Newton (with hand under chin), each of whom was portrayed separately by Johnson. The faces in this drawing are less individualized than they are in the separate portraits; Sarah Fairchild Dean can be identified most securely.

Labels
Verso labels: Coe Kerr Gallery, Adelson Galleries, and Michael Altman Art Advisory Services
Provenance
[Possibly Somerville Gallery, New York, March 21, 1871, S. P. Avery's Entire Collection of American and Foreign Paintings in Oil, Watercolor Drawings, Objects of Art, Antiques, &c., no. 123 (as The Sisters)]
Woolworth Collection, by 1970 and until at least 1997
Michael Altman Art Advisory Services
Adelson Galleries
[Brunk Auctions, Asheville, North Carolina, November 9, 2017, Premier Catalog Auction, lot 1152 (Group with Mrs. Sarah Fairchild Conover)]
The John and Darlene McNabb Collection, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, November 2017 (by purchase)
Exhibitions
1970 Coe Kerr Gallery
Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc, New York, The American Painting Collection of Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth, November 10–28, 1970. (Gerdts 1970), no. 62.
1979 Palm Springs Desert Museum
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, 100 Years of American Art, January 26–March 4, 1979.
References
Somerville Art Gallery 1871b
S. P. Avery's Entire Collection of American and Foreign Paintings in Oil, Watercolor Drawings, Objects of Art, Antiques, etc. New York: Somerville Art Gallery, March 21, 1871. Sale catalogue, p. 18, no. 123 [possibly, as The Sisters].
Gerdts 1970
Gerdts, William H. The American Painting Collection of Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth. New York: Coe Kerr Gallery, 1970. Exhibition catalogue (1970 Coe Kerr Gallery), p. 38, no. 62, illus.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): November 9, 1970; November 6, 1997
Examination notes: 1970: Girls dressed in black (mourning for mother?). Second girl black hair; right girl has blond. Others brown hair. A lot of rose colors in faces.

1997: Mary O'Connor – She looks out and has a presence, whereas others are adjunct. Pastel on gessoed canvas. Mixed media? Note strokes under lips; prominent gold ring. Hands of other figures not formed. Mary: perhaps holds sheet music.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Hayes, Mary Elizabeth Newton (Mrs. Hiram Hayes)
Biography:

Mary Elizabeth Newton Hayes (1835 or 1836–1910). Niece of Johnson; daughter of Sarah Osgood Johnson (Johnson’s sister) and William Henry Newton; sister of William Henry, John, James, and Martha Newton. Married Colonel Hiram Hayes (m. 1860).

Sitter: Newton, Martha
Biography:

Martha Newton (1841–?). Niece of Johnson; daughter of Sarah Osgood Johnson, Johnson’s sister, and William Henry Newton. Youngest sister of siblings Mary Elizabeth, William Henry, John, and James. Married Hamilton Murray Peyton (m. 1864). 

Sitter: Newton, Sarah Osgood Johnson (Mrs. William H. Newton)
Biography:

Sarah Osgood Johnson Newton (1831–?). Sister of Johnson; wife of William Henry Newton. Mother of Martha, Mary Elizabeth, William Henry, John, and James.

Sitter: Rice, Mary Elizabeth Brown
Biography:

Mary Elizabeth Brown Rice (1834–1863). Wife of Orrin Wheeler Rice (1829–1859; m. 1852), also portrayed by Johnson.

Sitter: Conover, Sarah Fairchild Dean (Mrs. Eliab Dean; later, Mrs. Obadiah Conover)
Biography:

Sarah Fairchild Dean Conover (1827–1912). Member of a prominent Madison Family. Sister of Civil War hero and governor Lucius Fairchild; married Eliab Dean (m. 1848). Divorced and later married professor Obadiah Conover (m. 1883). 

Related work
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Conover, Sarah Fairchild Dean (Mrs. Eliab Dean; later, Mrs. Obadiah Conover)
Hayes, Mary Elizabeth Newton (Mrs. Hiram)
Newton, Martha
Newton, Sarah Osgood Johnson (Mrs. William H. Newton)
Rice, Mary Elizabeth Brown
Record last updated March 25, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Group with Sarah Fairchild Dean, 1857 (Hills no. 45.7.5)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1040 (accessed on May 2, 2025).