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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: © 2021 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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

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Hills no. 13.1.3
1907 Sale no. 93
Winnowing Grain
c.1860–66
Locale: Maine
Oil on composition board
15 1/2 x 13 1/8 in. (39.4 x 33.3 cm)
Initialed lower right: E.J.
Description / Remarks

Hills, 2021: I dispute the inscribed date range of 1873–1879 because the architecture and interior view with right-hand figures in shadow more closely resemble 1860s paintings such as Barn Interior at Corn Husking Time and A Trade.

Although John I. H. Baur owned and annotated a copy of the catalogue of Johnson's 1907 Estate Sale, he did not include this work in his own 1940 catalogue listing; he must have obtained it after publication.

1907 Estate Sale info
No. 93: "A young farmer, standing in the sunlight, holds aloft a large bucketful of corn, which he skillfully pours out upon a cloth in order that the wind may carry away the chaff."
"Signed at the lower right, E.J.
Height, 15 ½ inches; width, 13 inches"
[Annotation: “50.00”]
Markings
Inscribed verso: E.J. Painted between 1873 and 1879
Provenance
Eastman Johnson estate/Mrs. Eastman Johnson, New York, 1906 (by bequest)
[The artist's estate sale, American Art Association, New York, February 26–27, 1907, no. 93 (as Winnowing Grain)]
Victor D. Spark, New York, by 1945
Maxim Karolik, Newport, Rhode Island (by purchase)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, June 3, 1948 (by bequest)
Exhibitions
1907a Century Association
Century Association, New York, Memorial Exhibition of Eastman Johnson, February 9–13, 1907, as Winnowing Grain.
1956 MFA Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, American Paintings, 1815-1865: One Hundred and Thirty-Six Paintings from the M. and M. Karolik Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Together with Fourteen Paintings from the Private Collection of Maxim Karolik, 1956. (Exhibition catalogue: MFA Boston 1957).
1972 Whitney Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition, March 28–May 14, 1972. (Exhibition catalogue: Hills 1972a), no. 55, b/w illus., p. 57, as Winnowing Grain. 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.
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. 51, p. 93, as Winnowing Grain. Traveled to: San Diego Museum of Fine Arts, San Diego, February 25–May 21, 2000; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, June 8–September 10, 2000.
References
AAA 1907b
Catalogue of Finished Pictures, Studies, and Drawings by the Late Eastman Johnson, N.A. New York: American Art Association, February 1907. Sale catalogue, n.p., no. 93, as Winnowing Grain.
Art Digest 1951
"Boston Gift Spotlights Forgotten Half Century of American Art." The Art Digest 26 (October 1, 1951).
MFA Boston 1957
American Paintings, 1815–1865: one hundred and thirty-six paintings from the M. and M. Karolik Collection in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, together with fourteen paintings from the private collection of Maxim Karolik. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1957. Exhibition catalogue (1956 MFA Boston), p. 74, no. 103, illus.
Flexner 1966
Flexner, James Thomas. The World of Winslow Homer, 1836–1910. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1966, color reproduction.
Green 1966
Green, S. M. American Art: A Historical Survey. New York: Ronald Press, 1966.
Hills 1972a
Hills, Patricia. Eastman Johnson: Retrospective Exhibition. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1972. Exhibition catalogue (1972 Whitney Museum), no. 55, p. 57, illus., as Winnowing Grain.
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), p. 93, no. 51, as Winnowing Grain.
Hills Examination / Opinion
Examination date(s): 1970-10-27
Examination notes: Browns, greys and umbers. Flat application of whites to sleeve. Two figures in background at right submerged in shadow; gold grain sits flat on surface; light coming in from left; light is white. Light on man's left sleeve top.
Record last updated May 26, 2022. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Hills, Patricia, and Abigael MacGibeny. "Winnowing Grain, c.1860–66 (Hills no. 13.1.3)." Eastman Johnson Catalogue Raisonné. www.eastmanjohnson.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=128 (accessed on March 28, 2024).