Catalogue Entry
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
MacGibeny, 2021: Although the whereabouts of the paintings are unknown today, Mrs. Eastman Johnson, Senator Thomas Witherell Palmer, and Fred Farnsworth (a Detroit neighbor of Palmer's who had become the Secretary for the American Banker's Association in New York), corresponded about Palmer's potential purchase of one of two bust-length portraits that Johnson made of Palmer at the time of the full-length portrait now owned by the Detroit Historical Society.
On March 5, 1909, Palmer wrote "My dear Fred: I inclose [sic] you a letter of Mrs. Eastman Johnson which speaks of a head and bust portrait which was painted at the time he painted my portrait which belongs to Mrs. Palmer and which is hanging up in the house here…
"I wish you would call and see that portrait and see if it is worth buying. Being Eastman's it has an intrinsic value beyond that of mere likeness. She says I can have it at my own price. I do not want to pay very much for it."
On June 10, 1909, after his visit to Mrs. Johnson, Farnsworth replied to Palmer: "I was very much pleased with these two pictures I like the smaller head better as a likeness for there is an expression on the face which is characteristic of you - a purse of the lips which is very natural. For a family portrait I consider this a No. 1, and a work of art. The larger head is equally good, but is a stronger picture and is more suitable for a public place. I have no doubt the Detroit Museum of Art would appreciate a portrait of this kind very much.
"Mrs. Johnson told me that she asked $300.00 each for these pictures; that she has been getting for bust portraits $1000.00 a piece where she had any on her hands. Of course, the matter of price is up to you and I should think her price reasonable. I certainly admire both of the pictures very much, indeed in fact I think them superb, and works of art as well."
[Letters transcribed by Gregory Piazza, author of A History of Detroit's Palmer Park, 2015]
Thomas Witherell Palmer (1830–1913). U.S. Senator from Michigan, 1883–1889.
- Portrait pose: