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Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Ed Pollard, Chrysler Museum of Art
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11.0 Reconstruction
In 1865, the year the war ended, American artists continued to paint Blacks in settings that suggest their new found freedom. But gradually the focus on Blacks as subjects began to fade among white artists. Their responses mirrored that of the North’s white population, which then turned toward other matters (such as industrialization, Western expansion, and international trade) and left the job of Reconstruction to former slaveowners in the South. The attitude of many northerners became one of distancing from their social responsibilities; one faction argued that Blacks should learn to take care of themselves—to use their skills to earn their own living without government assistance, such as what had been provided by the Freedmen’s Bureau.
In Johnson’s painting, Fiddling His Way, a Black man is doing just that—earning his living as an itinerant fiddler [See Hills, 1999: This was the last major painting Johnson did of Blacks. There is another version, Fiddling His Way, in which an older white man is placed in the same setting and fiddling for the entertainment of the household]. —PH
Hills no. 11.0.1
Fiddling His Way
Alternate titles: A Plantation Melody; Le Joueur de Violon [The Violin Player]; Old Kentucky Home; The Slave Fiddler; The Wandering Fiddler
1866
Oil on canvas
24 1/4 x 36 1/2 in. (61.6 x 92.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1866
Description/Remarks
Hills, 2021: In this version of Fiddling His Way, the fiddler is Black. In the other version of the painting, owned by the Terra Foundation for American Art, the fiddler is white.
New York Evening Post, February 16, 1865: "Mr. Johnson is also engaged on a large picture of New England life, representing a negro in an old-fashioned kitchen, playing on a fiddle, while the family are gathered around listening."
American Art Galleries sale catalogue, 1919: "Gathered in a spacious kitchen, with vegetables as well as culinary utensils hanging on the walls or from beams, a number of persons listen with varying degrees of pleasure to an air played on the violin by a young negro. He has ten auditors, from happy baby to industrious grandma."
Chrysler Museum of Art object record, July 31, 2019: "This is an oil on canvas painting of a black fiddler—a freedman—who performs in the kitchen of a rural white family. The musician, on the left side of the canvas, fiddles, while the family of ten watches. The three young boys are gathered closest to the fiddler, while the mother stands with a laughing infant in her arms, a young girl stands by her right side and yet another young girl site on the floor, across from the musician. Behind the mother, the farmer himself is seated on a box holding something (cup? or pipe?); a grown-up daughter stands with broom in hand behind the farmer, while an older woman scrubs a plate in the background. The kitchen appears dark."
Provenance
Robert Leighton Stuart, New York, 1867
John Taylor Johnston, New York, by 1876
[Samuel P. Avery, New York, December 19, 20, and 22, 1876, Chickering Hall, The Collection of Paintings, Drawings, and Statuary, the Property of John Taylor Johnston, Esq., no. 184 (as The Wandering Fiddler)]
J. W. Garrett, Baltimore, 1876 (by purchase)
Miss Mary E. Garrett, Baltimore, Maryland, until 1919
[American Art Galleries, New York, February 15–17, 1919, The Olyphant and Garrett Collections Sale, no. 75 (as A Plantation Melody)]
P. W. Rouss, February 17, 1919 (by purchase)
Sidney Levison
[Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, 1966]
Mortimer Spiller, Buffalo, New York, 1967 (by purchase)
Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, 1970–1974 (on loan to the Chrysler Museum, 1971)
Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Norfolk, Virginia, 1974–1989
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, 1989 (by bequest)
Exhibitions
1866 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, Forty-first Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, April 17–July 4, 1866. (NAD 1866), no. 251, shown in a special section of works exhibited at the Paris Universal Exposition, as Fiddling His Way.1867 Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle, Paris, April 1–November 3, 1867. (Exhibition catalogue: Exposition Universelle 1867), no. 48, (as Le Joueur de Violon [The Violin Player]).1867b NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, First Winter Exhibition, November 16, 1867–March 11, 1868. (Exhibition catalogue: NAD 1867b), no. 651.1876 United States Centennial Commission
United States Centennial Commission, Philadelphia, Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, May 10–November 1876, no. 185, as The Wandering Fiddler, owner J. T. Johnston.1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, [possibly, as Fiddling His Way].1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 49, b/w illus., p. 42, as Fiddling His Way. Traveled to: The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, June 7–July 22, 1972; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, August 15–September 30, 1972; Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, October 20–December 3, 1972.1973 Finch College Museum
Finch College Museum of Art, New York, Twice as Natural: 19th Century American Genre Painting, December 11, 1973–January 20, 1974, no. 45.1974 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, The Painters' America, Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910, September 20–November 10, 1974. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1974), no. 62, illus., as Fiddling His Way. Traveled to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 5, 1974–January 19, 1975; Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, February 10–March 30, 1975.1976 Chrysler Museum
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Three Hundred Years of American Art, March 1–July 4, 1976. (Anderson 1976).1977 Tennessee Fine Arts Center
Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, Tennessee, Treasures from The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler Jr., June 12–September 5, 1977. (Zafran and Amaya 1977).1978 ACA Galleries
ACA Galleries, New York, 19th and 20th Century Masterpieces from New York Private Collections for the Benefit of the Chemotherapy Foundation, September 26–October 14, 1978.1984 Fred L. Emerson Gallery
Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, The Art of Music: American Paintings and Musical Instruments, 1770–1910, April 7–June 3, 1984. Traveled to: Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, July 19–September 19, 1984; Duke University Museum of Art, Durham, North Carolina, October 1–November 5, 1984; Lamont Gallery, The Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, November 18–December 16, 1984.1985 Chrysler Museum
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Hidden Treasures from The Chrysler Museum, November 26, 1985–January 5, 1986.1990 Corcoran Gallery of Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710–1940, January 13–March 25, 1990. (McElroy 1990). Traveled to: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, April 20–June 25, 1990.1999 Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 78, p. 149, as Fiddling His Way. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.2005 Chrysler Museum
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum, October 21, 2005–February 19, 2006.2008 Chrysler Museum
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries, opened March 2008.2013 Chrysler Museum
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House, January 2–December 1, 2013.References
Evening Post 1865a
"The Bryant Album." The Evening Post (New York), January 16, 1865.Harper's Weekly 1866
"Editor's Easy Chair." Harper's Weekly 33 (June 1866), p. 117: "Mr. Johnson's two other works in the exhibition [the 41st Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design], 'Sunday Morning' and 'Fiddling His Way,' are equally delightful. The latter, of course, from the similarity of the subject, recalls Wilkie’s Blind Fiddler, but Mr. Johnson’s is as purely American as Wilkie’s is Scotch. The eye and heart would never tire of either. The exquisite skill with which the various aspects of childish pleasure are appreciated and represented in 'Fiddling His Way' is sustained in 'Sunday Morning' by a kindred insight. The youth leaning back in his chair and twirling the ring upon his finger, the sweet, sober maiden at his side, the utter jollity of the two frolicsome but quiet children behind their mother, the old people and the younger, and the very Sunday in the air, which broods over the picture, are all charming and simple and obvious, but to show them as they are, that is to paint pictures," as Fiddling His Way.NAD 1866
Catalogue of the 41st Annual Exhibition. New York: National Academy of Design, 1866. Exhibition catalogue (1866 NAD), no. 251, as Fiddling His Way.The Albion 1866
The Albion 5 (May 1866), p. 213.Exposition Universelle 1867
Catalogue Générale—Première Partie. Paris: Exposition Universelle, 1867. Exhibition catalogue (1867 Exposition Universelle), no. 48 (as Le Joueur de Violon [The Violin Player]).Tuckerman 1867
Tuckerman, Henry T. Book of the American Artists: American Artist Life. New York: G. P. Putnam & Son, 1867, p. 471 [possibly, as The Itinerant Musician].Avery 1876
Avery, Samuel P. The Collection of Paintings, Drawings, and Statuary, the Property of John Taylor Johnston, Esq. New York, 1876. Sale catalogue, p. 57, no. 184, as The Wandering Fiddler.Centennial Exhibition 1876
Official Catalogue of the International Exhibition of 1876. Part II: Art Gallery, Annexes, and Outdoor Works of Art. Department IV: Art. Cambridge, MA: John R. Nagle & Company, 1876. Exhibition catalogue, p. 22, no. 185, as The Wandering Fiddler, owner J. T. Johnston.Benjamin 1882
Benjamin, S. G. W. "A Representative American." The Magazine of Art 5 (November 1882), p. 487 [possibly, as The Wandering Fiddler].AAG 1919a
Catalogue of the Olyphant and Garrett Collections Sale. New York: American Art Galleries, February 1919. Sale catalogue, no. 75, as A Plantation Melody.Kennedy Galleries 1920
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 13, addendum “Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Fiddling His Way].Hirschl & Adler Galleries 1966
Selections from the Collection of Hirschl & Adler Galleries Vol. 8. New York: Hirschl & Adler Galleries, 1966, no. 18, as The Slave Fiddler.Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), no. 49, p. 42 illus., as Fiddling His Way.Hills 1974
Hills, Patricia. The Painters' America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910. New York: Praeger, 1974. Exhibition catalogue (1974 Whitney Museum), p. 71, fig. 88, illus., as Fiddling His Way.Whitney Museum 1974
The Painters' America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974. Exhibition catalogue, p. 73, fig. 88.Anderson 1976
Anderson, Dennis R. Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum, 1976. Exhibition catalogue (1976 Chrysler Museum), no. 125; p. 25.Hills 1977
Hills, Patricia. The Genre Paintings of Eastman Johnson: The Sources and Development of His Style and Themes. New York: Garland Publishing, 1977, pp. 63–64.Zafran and Amaya 1977
Zafran, Eric M., and Mario Amaya. Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Nashville, TN: Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, 1977. Exhibition catalogue (1977 Tennessee Fine Arts Center), no. 5.Chrysler Museum Bulletin 1982
"Spotlight: Fiddling His Way." The Chrysler Museum Bulletin 12, no. 7 (July 1982).LeFalle-Collins and Simon 1987
LeFalle-Collins, Lizzetta, and Leonard Simon. The Portrayal of the Black Musician in American Art. Los Angeles: California Afro-American Museum, 1987. Exhibition catalogue, p. 7, fig. 4.Boime 1990
Boime, Albert. The Art of Exclusion: Representing Blacks in the Nineteenth Century. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990.McElroy 1990
McElroy, Guy C., with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Facing History: The Black Image In American Art, 1710–1940. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1990. Exhibition catalogue (1990 Corcoran Gallery of Art), p. 56.Harrison 1991
Harrison, Jeffrey C. The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum, 1991, p. 119, plate 94.Godel & Co. Fine Art 1998
The Glorious Quest. New York: Godel & Co. Fine Art, 1998, p. 46.Payne 1998
Payne, Christiana. Rustic Simplicity: Scenes of Cottage Life in Nineteenth-Century British Art. London: Lund Humphries, in association with the University of Nottingham Arts Centre and Djanogly Art Gallery, 1998, pp. 93–94, fig. 24.Carbone and Hills 1999
Carbone, Teresa A., and Patricia Hills. Eastman Johnson: Painting America. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue (1999 Brooklyn Museum), no. 78; pp. 52, 66, 68, 121, 145–51 (illus. p. 149), 169, 180, as Fiddling His Way.Douglass 1999
Douglass, Julie M. "Lifetime Exhibition History." In Eastman Johnson: Painting America, by Teresa A. Carbone and Patricia Hills. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum of Art, in association with Rizzoli International Publications, 1999. Exhibition catalogue, pp. 260, 262, 266.Harris 2003
Harris, Michael D. Colored Pictures: Issues of Race and Visual Representation. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2003, pp. 47–48.Bruce 2004
Bruce, Cathy, dir. and prod. And Still We Rise: Our Journey Through African American History and Culture. Detroit, MI: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, 2004. VHS. .Allen 2004a
Allen, Brian T. Sugaring Off: The Maple Sugar Paintings of Eastman Johnson. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, in association with the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2004. Exhibition catalogue (2004 Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute), p. 45.Hagood and Harrison 2005
Hagood, Martha N., and Jefferson C. Harrison. American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005, pp. 82–83, no. 46.Norton et al 2006
Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation: A History of the United States to 1877. Vol. I. 7th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006, p. 333.Harrison 2007
Harrison, Jeffrey C. Collecting with Vision: Treasures from the Chrysler Museum of Art. London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007, p. 63, fig. 65.Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1970-Spring; 1971-04
Examination notes: Spring 1970: Black man fiddling left. Women and children. Highlights on sieve and bottles at right. Drawing on features [?]. Umbers and siennas in back. Composed! Small child on floor. Lack of impasto. Fiddler's blue-green pants contrast to emerald green skirt on right.
1971-04-05: Background figures less clearly painted. Figures fade—OK. Focus on fiddler and two boys.
1971-04-05: Background figures less clearly painted. Figures fade—OK. Focus on fiddler and two boys.
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Record last updated May 24, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Fiddling His Way, 1866 (Hills no. 11.0.1)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=120 (accessed on May 2, 2025).