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, 2021: The American Art Galleries sale catalogue incorrectly identified the setting in its titles Interior of Southern Kitchen and Southern Kitchen Interior. The setting is Maine, and the composition incorporates elements of a Nantucket interior as well. The setting of this painting is identical to that of Johnson's paintings The Vacant Chair, 1865, and Winding Yarn, 1872.
American Art Galleries sale catalogue, 1899: "The chimney corner of an old farmhouse is given with the realism of surrounding pots and kettles and old-time furniture. An old man sits with his evening pipe, ruminating. A chair is in the corner against a door, and the little nothings so suggestively expressive of home life are scattered about. The artist seizes upon these details so immaterial, yet so characteristic, and renders all faithfully."
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