Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné
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Photo: Courtesy of Everson Museum of Art
Frame
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail with inscription
Photo: Patricia Hills
Detail with inscription
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
Plaque, in Everson Museum object file
Photo: Abigael MacGibeny
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13.1 Maine Rustic/Farm, 1860s—Figures in Barns
In the nineteenth century, attitudes towards work changed, especially in the northern states of America. Although some artists made fun of “country bumpkins,” in general, farm work and farmers began to take on greater prestige and admiration. During the 1860s, Johnson returned to his birthplace in Maine to make studies of maple sugar production and also to seek out subjects of a rural life far removed from slavery. Barn interiors and home interiors show the families of farmers husking corn, winnowing grain, of taking a smoke. Exteriors show farmers at harvest time, loggers cutting trees or simply relaxing. In choosing scenes of rural white America Johnson was following in the tradition of Francis William Edmonds, George H. Durrie, Tompkins H. Matteson, and William Sidney Mount—a tradition popularized by the prints of Currier and Ives. —PH
Hills no. 13.1.1
Baur no. 91
Barn Interior at Corn Husking Time
Everson Museum of Art title: Corn Husking
Alternate titles: likely Corn Huskers; likely Corn Shucking; A Corn Husking; Corn-Husking Down East; Cornhusking; Husking; The Corn Husking
1860
Locale: Maine
Oil on canvas
26 x 30 in. (66 x 76.2 cm)
Signed and dated lower right on door crossbar: E. Johnson 1860
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Description/Remarks
Hills, 2021: The inscription on the door, "Lincoln/[?]/Hamlon [sic]," is a reference to the U.S. presidential election of 1860, in which Hannibal Hamlin was Abraham Lincoln's running mate. In the Currier & Ives print of this painting, the wording is changed to "The Union Forever," the slogan of the Lincoln-Hamlin campaign.
Vanity Fair, April 16, 1861, "More Glances at the Gallery":
No 223 Husking—Eastman Johnson.
Fie! fie! Mr. Artist! where are your “red
ears!”
“A Husking” without pretty girls to be
kiss’d, man?
“All talk and no cider?”—why, really’ one
fears,
If you cannot do better, you must go down
East–man.
["No. 223" refers to the painting's number in the 1861 exhibition at the National Academy of Design.]
Exhibitions
Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, New York, February 19, 1861, as Barn Interior at Corn Husking Time.
Young Men's Association, Buffalo, New York, December 24, 1861, no. 153, [possibly, as Husking].
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Spring 1862. (Exhibition catalogue: PAFA 1862), no. 44, as Corn Husking, owner Eastman Johnson.
Young Men's Association, Troy, New York, 1862, no. 15, [likely, as Corn Shucking, owner J. B. Kellogg].
Utica Art Association, Utica, New York, 1867, no. 36, [likely, as Corn Huskers, owner P. V. Kellogg].
Chicago Interstate Industrial Exposition, Chicago, 1873. (Chicago Inter-State 1873), no. 55, as Corn-Husking Down East, owner Kellogg.
Chicago Inter-State Industrial Exposition, Chicago, 1876, no. 266, [likely, as Corn Husking, owner P. V. Kellogg].
Munich, International Art Exhibition, May 1883.
American Art Galleries, New York, Works Selected to be Shown at International Art Exhibition in Munich, May 19–23, 1883, as The Corn Husking.
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904, no. 401, as Corn Husking.
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, as The Corn Husking.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, American Genre: The Social Scene in Paintings and Prints (1800–1935), March 26–April 29, 1935. (Whitney Museum 1935), no. 64.
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, Exhibition of American Painting, June 7–July 7, 1935, no. 154.
University of Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York, American Life in a Century of American Art, November 1935, no. 25.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, An American Genre Painter: Eastman Johnson, 1824–1906, January 18, 1939–February 26, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: Baur 1940), no. 91, b/w illus., Pl. IV, as Corn Husking.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Life in America: A Special Loan Exhibition of Paintings Held during the Period of the New York World's Fair, April 24–October 29, 1939, no. 159, lent by The Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts.
San Francisco Bay Exposition Co, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, Golden Gate International Exposition, 1940. (Exhibition catalogue: S. F. Bay Exposition Co. 1940).
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, American Painting from 1830: A Loan Exhibition Organized Around Selections from the Everson Museum Collection of American Paintings, December 3, 1965–January 16, 1966, no. 20.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, The Painter and the New World, June 9–July 30, 1967. (Exhibition catalogue: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts 1967), no. 260, as Corn Husking.
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 28, color illus., p. 41, as Corn Husking. 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.
Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Tradition and Innovation: American Paintings 1860–1870 (A Loan Exhibition for the Benefit of The Houston Museum of Fine Arts), January 10–25, 1974. (Meredith Long & Company 1974), no. 22.
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. 60, illus., as Corn Husking. Traveled to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 5, 1974–January 19, 1975; Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, February 10–March 30, 1975.
Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, Life in 19th Century America: An Exhibition of Genre Painting, September 11–November 15, 1981. (Terra Museum of American Art 1981), no. 50.
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York, Eastman Johnson: Painting America, October 29, 1999–February 6, 2000. (Exhibition catalogue: Carbone and Hills 1999), no. 25, as Corn Husking. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, Visions of America, May 12–August 19, 2018.
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, Eastman Johnson and Maine, June 6–December 8, 2024, no. 11, as Barn Interior at Corn Husking Time.
References
"Fine Arts." The Albion (New York) 39, no. 15 (April 13, 1861), p. 177: “In the room we have just left we observed Mr. Johnson’s ‘Husking,’ no. 223, and therein also [as in Johnson's The Papers—Portraits] we thought we detected the moral, if so it may be called—age and youth and infancy finding each its representatives; but we have nothing to say of it as a whole, save that it does not commend itself to our taste," as Husking.
"More Glances at the Gallery." Vanity Fair 3 (April 6, 1861), p. 159, as Husking, poem written in response to painting's exhibition in 1861 at the National Academy of Design.
Catalogue of the Thirty-Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1862. Exhibition catalogue (1862 PAFA), p. 6, no. 44, as Corn Husking, owner Artist.
"Fine Arts: The American Contribution to the Munich International Exhibition." New York Herald, May 19, 1883, p. 5, as The Corn Husking.
Boston Art Club Sixty-Seventh Exhibition: Oil Paintings and Sculpture. Boston: Boston Art Club, 1903. Exhibition catalogue (1903 Boston Art Club), n.p., no. 119, as A Corn Husking.
Beckwith, Carroll. "Eastman Johnson—His Life and Works." Scribner's Magazine 40, no. 2 (August 1906), p. 254 [possibly, as Corn Husking].
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," as Corn Husking.
Rourke, Constance. "American Art: A Possible Future." American Magazine of Art (New York) 28, no. 7 (July 1935), p. 398, illus., as Corn Husking.
American Genre: The Social Scene in Paintings and Prints (1800–1935). New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1935. Exhibition catalogue (1935 Whitney Museum), p. 19, no. 64.
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), pp. 39–40, 64, no. 91, illus. Pl. IV, as Corn Husking.
Crosby, Everett U. Eastman Johnson at Nantucket: His Paintings and Sketches of Nantucket People and Scenes. Nantucket, MA, 1944, pp. 20, 65, C.60A, illus., as Corn Husking.
American Painting from 1830. Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art, 1965, no. 20, p. 37–38, illus.
The Painter and the New World. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1967. Exhibition catalogue (1967 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), no. 260, as Corn Husking.
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), no. 28, p. 41, illus., as Corn Husking.
Hills, Patricia. The Painters' America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910. New York: Praeger, 1974. Exhibition catalogue (1974 Whitney Museum), p. 32, fig. 36, illus., as Corn Husking.
Tradition and Innovation: American Paintings 1860–1870. Houston, TX: Meredith Long & Company, 1974. Exhibition catalogue (1974 Meredith Long & Company), no. 22, frontispiece and p. 34, illus.
Life in 19th Century America. Evanston, IL: Terra Museum of American Art, 1981. Exhibition catalogue (1981 Terra Museum of American Art), no. 50, p. 25, illus.
Hesselman, Dorothy. "Talking It Over: A Patriotic Genre Painting by Enoch Wood Perry." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1998), p. 298, as Corn Husking.
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), p. 51, no. 25, as Corn Husking.
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, 261 [likely], 262 [likely], 263, 266.
Hills Examination/Opinion
Examination date(s): 1971-02-23; 1971-02-25; 2018-06-26
Examination notes: Really gets away from the Biedermeier quality of the Matteson painting. Open barn door at left, cf. Mount. Left and right figure groups set against piles of corn husks. Door shows through dog. (Overzealous cleaning or paint has become transparent with age?) Gray trousers and white shirt—Couture-like granular impasto (scumbling). Yellow husks contrast to sienna glazes of background. Bright yellow corn. Check man with top hat—figure in Buffalo drawing? Figures dimly seen in the background - also apparently husking. Red shawl on woman at right balanced by red skirt on child at left. Shoes of left man [~ Buffalo drawing] [see card for sketch of shoe]. Mrs.(?) Plonski, Mr. Bower. Girl: paw-like hands. Lines on all principal figures. Gray chicken in roost. Free brushstrokes in foreground—however, strictly a local color painting in spite of lack of Biedermeier fussiness.
Keywords
- Subject matter
: - Baskets »
- Corn husking »
- Dogs »
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Photo: Yale University Art Gallery
Husking [lithograph by Charles Severin; published by Currier & Ives]
1861
Lithograph, hand colored
Image: 20 7/8 x 27 5/16 in. (53 x 69.4 cm)
Sheet: 23 11/16 x 29 1/2 in. (60.2 x 74.9 cm)
Printed lower left: PAINTED BY EASTMAN JOHNSON._ON STONE BY C. SEVERIN.; LITH.CURRIER & IVES, NEW YORK.; lower center: Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1861 by Currier & Ives, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York/HUSKING./NEW YORK. PUBLISHED BY CURRIER & IVES, 152 NASSAU STREET
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., Mabel Brady Garvan Collection (1946.9.1438)
Also owned by: American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (493493); Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas (179.70); Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts (2004.D03.556); Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma (1526.557); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (33.914)
Also owned by: American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts (493493); Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas (179.70); Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts (2004.D03.556); Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma (1526.557); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (33.914)
See all Prints after Works by Johnson.
Record last updated June 2, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Barn Interior at Corn Husking Time, 1860 (Hills no. 13.1.1)." In Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=124 (accessed on May 1, 2025).