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

Catalogue Entry

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Photo: Century Association, New York
[ 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. 31.1.66
John Whetton Ehninger
Alternate titles: John W. Ehninger; John Whetten Ehninger
1889
Oil on canvas
27 x 22 1/8 in. (68.6 x 56.2 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: E. Johnson/1889
Century Association, New York, Gift of Mrs. John W. Ehninger, 1902 (1902.2)
Provenance
Century Association, New York, 1902 (by gift)
Exhibitions
1889 Century Association
Century Association, New York, February 2, 1889, as John W. Ehninger.
References
Century Association 1902
Secretary of the Century Association. Board of Management and Monthly Meeting Minutes VII (1893–1902). February 27, 1902. Century Association Foundation Archives, New York, p. 269.
Conradt-Eberlin 1907
Conradt-Eberlin, Viggo. Catalogue of Paintings and Other Art Objects Belonging to the Century Association. 1907. Century Association Foundation Archives, New York. Handwritten list, no. 305.
Lay and Bolton 1943
Lay, Charles Downing, and Theodore Bolton. Works of Art Silver and Furniture Belonging to the Century Association. New York: Century Association, 1943, p. 11.
Mayor and Davis 1977
Mayor, A. Hyatt, and Mark Davis. American Art at the Century. New York: Century Association, 1977, p. 129.
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, p. 264, as John W. Ehninger.
Sitter Biography
Sitter: Ehninger, John Whetton
Biography:

John Whetton Ehninger (1827–1889). Painter and etcher. Like Johnson, studied painting in Düsseldorf with Emanuel Leutze and further with Thomas Couture in Paris. Became a National Academician in 1860 [Frick Art Reference Library].

Keywords
Record last updated August 12, 2021. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "John Whetton Ehninger, 1889 (Hills no. 31.1.66)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1244 (accessed on April 30, 2024).