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

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Reproduction in Edgar French, "An American Portrait Painter of Three Historical Epochs," World's Work (December 1906)
James McCosh, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.133). James McCosh portrait in Johnson's studio (center left)
James McCosh portrait in Johnson's studio (center left)
Photo: Reproduced in William Walton, "Eastman Johnson, Painter," Scribner's Magazine, Sept. 1906
[ 31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men ]info
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31.1 U.S. Portraits, Men

When Johnson returned to the United States, he not only painted genre paintings but he also continued to paint portraits, which gave him a steady income. After 1880 Johnson turned to portraiture almost exclusively. During the 1880s and 1890s he painted businessmen, lawyers, university presidents, and three U.S. presidents from life. At times he also painted their wives and children.

He was also commissioned to paint posthumous portraits, often from photographs. These portraits by and large do not have the sparkle and active brushwork of those done from life. It seems that the demand for portraits of business and civic leaders (and members of exclusive men’s clubs) was so high that portrait painters would often make copies of each other’s paintings to satisfy the market for such images. In many instances, it has been difficult to render opinions for such paintings. —PH

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Hills no. 31.1.133
James McCosh
Alternate titles: possibly Dr. McCosh; possibly Dr. N. Cosh [sic—mistranscribed]; possibly Portrait of Dr. McCosh; possibly Portrait of the Late Rev. Dr. McCosh, Pres. Princeton College; possibly Portrait of the Rev. Dr. M'Cosh; possibly Rev. Dr. James McCosh; The Reverend Doctor James McCosh, President of Princeton University
c.1883
Oil
[dimensions unknown]
Present whereabouts unknown
Provenance
Possibly Alexander Maitland, New York, son-in-law of the sitter, by 1884 until at least 1893
Present whereabouts unknown
Exhibitions
1883a Century Association
Century Association, New York, February 3, 1883, [possibly, as Dr. McCosh].
1883c Century Association
Century Association, New York, April 7, 1883, [possibly, as Dr. McCosh].
1884 NAD
National Academy of Design, New York, April 7–May 17, 1884. (NAD 1884), no. 259, [possibly, as Dr. McCosh, lent by Alex Maitland].
1893 Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, May 1–October 31, 1893. (World's Columbian Exposition 1893), no. 784, [possibly, as Portrait of Dr. McCosh, lent by Alex. Maitland, New York].
1900a Union League Club of New York
The Union League Club of New York, New York, American Paintings, January 11–13, 1900, no. 2, [possibly, as Portrait of the Late Rev. Dr. McCosh, Pres. Princeton College].
References
Philadelphia Inquirer 1882
"Personal and Political." The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 16, 1882, p. 4: "Eastman Johnson is painting portraits of Presidents Porter, of Yale, and McCosh, of Princeton".
Art Union 1884
"The National Academy Exhibition." The Art Union 1, no. 4 (April 1884), p. 80 [possibly, as Portrait of the Rev. Dr. M'Cosh].
NAD 1884
New York: National Academy of Design, 1884. Exhibition catalogue (1884 NAD), no. 259 [possibly, as Dr. McCosh].
World's Columbian Exposition 1893
World's Columbian Exposition. Revised Catalogue, Department of Fine Arts. Chicago: W. B. Gonkey Company, 1893. Exhibition catalogue (1893 Columbian Exposition), p. 58, no. 784 [possibly, as Portrait of Dr. McCosh].
Beckwith 1906
Beckwith, Carroll. "Eastman Johnson—His Life and Works." Scribner's Magazine 40, no. 2 (August 1906), [possibly].
French 1906
French, Edgar. "An American Portrait Painter of Three Historical Epochs." World's Work 13, no. 2 (December 1906), p. 8312, illus., as The Reverend Doctor James McCosh, President of Princeton University.
Kennedy Galleries 1920
Catalogue of an Exhibition of Charcoal Drawings by Eastman Johnson. New York: Kennedy Galleries, 1920. Exhibition catalogue (1920 Kennedy Galleries), p. 11, addendum "Paintings by Eastman Johnson" [possibly, as Rev. Dr. James McCosh].
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. 263, 265 [possibly].
Sitter Biography
Sitter: McCosh, James
Biography:

Reverend Doctor James McCosh (1811–1894). Philosopher and president of Princeton University, 1868–1888. Ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland then became a professor in logic and metaphysics at Queen’s College, Belfast, before becoming president of Princeton. Under his leadership, enrollment and faculty increased, standards of scholarship were raised, and buildings enlarged.

White, Terry James. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms, 1967–.

McCosh, James
Keywords
Record last updated August 9, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "James McCosh, c.1883 (Hills no. 31.1.133)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1230 (accessed on April 23, 2024).